You're Not Alone
by DarkElements10
Summary: How do you go from being best friends to dating? Take a bet, a misunderstanding, a secret, a 'good boy', a 'bad girl', and a rumor; mix it all together and what do you get? A strange love story. Wanting to spend more time with his best friend Riley Jackson-McGuire, Kendall hides it by asking her to do the impossible: to teach him how to be a bad boy.
1. I bet you didn't notice

**You're Not Alone**

**By: Riley**

**Full Summary** – How do you go from being best friends to dating? Take a bet, a misunderstanding, a secret, a 'good boy', a 'bad girl', and a rumor; mix it all together and what do you get? A strange love story.

Wanting to spend more time with his best friend Riley Jackson, Kendall hides it by asking her to do the impossible: to teach him how to be a bad-boy. Riley initially refuses, but when he decides to make it a bet she agrees. The loser has to be the other's servant for a week. Who will come out on top? Do they win something more than the bet? The drama from the bet isn't the only thing that's going to make things hard for them. A secret and a rumor are going to test their friendship as well. But they do say that love is friendship on 'fire'.

Rated 'T' for Language and Sexuality.

* * *

_Panic sets in._

_I start to run, my hair sticking to my face with my sweat, my breath starts in an erratic rhythm. I'm running, faster and faster away from the world, away from all the pain, away from you._

_My legs are churning beneath me, I keep going faster, picking up speed, and my heart is throwing itself against my rib cage. I just need to get away, to hide and it hurts so much...I'm hurt. I'm running, but I can't run away fast enough!_

_Because you always catch up to me…_

* * *

**.:Chapter 01:.**

_Take two best friends; add their two bands, and a cup of nervousness into a large mixing bowl. Then mix it all together until you get the comfort and support that you need._

* * *

Kendall Knight was the sort of guy that prided himself on having loyal friends. Ever since he was young and first lived in Kansas, he made friends quickly. When his parents moved him out to Minnesota, which was when he was about two years old, he became friends with James so quickly it wasn't even funny. Mrs. Knight had taken Kendall to the park while her husband was clearing out space in the house and trying to figure out which rooms to paint first, and she met Brooke Diamond sitting on a park bench, watching as her son played with dirt. Mrs. Knight walked over with Kendall balanced on her hip and asked it if it was all right to sit down. Mrs. Diamond immediately said that it was ok and Mrs. Knight set her son down on the ground and watched as he went over to James and plopped himself on the ground, immediately playing along with him.

It wasn't until a couple of months later that they ended up meeting Carlos and his mother. Kendall and James were inseparable at that point, always asking their mothers to play with each other. When they met Carlos, he immediately fell into their friendship, making the group of three boys a lot louder than any of the mothers had expected. It wasn't much longer after that than Mrs. Knight was pregnant with Katie and Mr. Knight was teaching Kendall how to play hockey. Kendall's love for the sport grew pretty quickly and soon it was all that he talked about. He got James and Carlos into the sport and when Logan moved into town, he sucked the brainy boy into it as well. Kendall practically lived on the ice, when he was playing, he was thinking about hockey. But what made it really enjoyable for him was the fact that his best friends were there as well. He couldn't help but take things a bit personally whenever they were hit while playing a game. Kendall had been ejected from more games than he had played in due to 'unsportsmanlike behavior' because he was mad whenever one of his friends had been singled out.

Even when they weren't on the ice, Kendall did everything he could to show his friends that he was always going to be there for them and that tradition continued when he and his friends got out to LA. He helped them get through whatever problem it was that they needed whenever they needed it, no questions asked. He even went as far as to back-talk to Gustavo just to be sure that they weren't being wronged.

Kendall _still_ showed that side of him, when he and the other guys found out that the band that Gustavo had pitted them to work with was being abused by their then father. That band, the famous Australian band, the DarkElements had signed a contract with Rocque Records to help Big Time Rush break into the American music industry. At the same time, the DarkElements were working on re-mastering their first CD to release into the American market while recording new songs for their next CD that they were going to release in Australia. Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James had found out that they were being abused by their father and helped send him to jail.

The two bands had been working together and had been best friends ever since then; two years and counting. Riley Jackson, her twin, Rhuben, their twin younger brothers Patrick and Noah, and their baby brother, Sydney were all best friends with Kendall, Carlos, Logan, James, and Kendall's little sister, Katie Knight. Their music producers, Gustavo Rocque for Big Time Rush, and Ronan McGuire for the DarkElements, were friends as well.

Kendall would do anything for any of them and nothing would get in his way of doing that.

"Hello?" Kendall called, stepping into the costume closet. He pushed the door open slowly, taking in the state of the room. There were clothes flung everywhere and props were all messed up. He laughed lightly as he looked around at the mess, closing the door behind him. He hadn't seen the room that bad before and was slightly surprised that it had gotten to that state.

"Hi!" Kendall jumped when Sydney Jackson-McGuire popped out in front of him, a large grin on his face, his dimples appearing in his cheeks. He scowled as Sydney laughed, his dark blue eyes sparkling, as he removed the large cowboy hat that was sitting on his head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Yeah right," Kendall replied, once he calmed down. He laughed when he noticed that Sydney had at least four shirts on top of his own regular t-shirt. "What are you wearing?"

Sydney shrugged. "It's easier to move things around when it's on you than when it is all over the floor." He then looked back at Kendall and crossed his arms over his chest, looking him up and down. "What are _you _wearing?" He shot back, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not one that actually cares that much about fashion, but, dude, you look like my grandpa." He commented.

Kendall looked down at his outfit and rolled his eyes. So what he was wearing a light gray cardigan over a t-shirt, loose jeans, and a flat gray hat? He thought that he looked good. But…he couldn't help but notice online that a lot of people did mention that he dressed like someone's grandfather occasionally. But he liked the way that he dressed and that was all that mattered. He couldn't help but be slightly embarrassed though; because an eleven year old pointed it out and because in the back of his mind he knew that he did, indeed, look like a grandfather.

"Thanks Little Man," Kendall said with a half smile. "That really made me feel better."

"Oh." Sydney's eyes widened a little and he gave a knowing nod. "You're nervous about your hockey game tomorrow aren't you?"

"You're too smart for your own good." Kendall couldn't help but smile.

"I get that a lot," Sydney said. He gave a smug smile as he crossed his arms over his chest. "If you're looking for Riles, she's on the couch." Sydney pointed behind him. "You know, if you can find her through all of this stuff."

"Thanks." Kendall gave Sydney a high-five before he pushed his way through a bunch of clothes racks and props. He walked over to the couch, where Sydney's eldest sister, Riley, was sitting with her knees up to her chest and a pen in her mouth. "What are you doing?" He asked, dropping down next to her.

"What's it look like?" Riley asked, shifting her eyes over to him. She held out her right fist and the two of them did their handshake. She sat up, crossing her legs and dropped her pen into her mouth. "I'm supposed to be cleaning-"

"Supposed to being the keywords?" Kendall smiled.

"Exactly," Riley said with a light laugh. "Ronan's having this open house sort of thing for the company so we have to clean like crazy. Syd said that he'd help me with the costume closet and the others are cleaning out the mail room."

"Again, I'm assuming they're supposed to, but they're not," Kendall remarked, slouching down and crossing his legs at the ankles.

Kendall and Riley considered each other their best friend of each other's band, just like Logan and Rhuben considered each other their best friend of their bands. They had a lot in common; they're the leaders of their bands, had younger siblings to look after, played the guitar, had a sports obsession (him hockey, her baseball) and went to each other for advice. Well, Riley usually made it hard for Kendall to get advice, since she usually tried to help him figure out his own problems rather than tell him right out. But they were opposites as well, Riley was blunt, realistic, and open with whatever she was feeling at whatever time and Kendall was patient, thoughtful, and loyal. Riley had a knack of being serious and knowing when to have fun and Kendall was all about having fun so they enjoyed each other's company.

"Dude," Riley's eyes lit up and she smacked Kendall on the arm, getting his attention. "Check this out," Riley leaned over and grabbed her backpack from the floor. She started to root around and pulled out a notebook and a mp3 player. "Some new music that we have."

"I thought that you guys weren't making any new music this year," Kendall said. He held his hands on his stomach, angling his head to look at her. "At least, that's what you said when you guys announced it…and your abuse."

At the beginning of that summer, when the guys were on their 'All Over The World' tour, the DarkElements had gone back to their home of Sydney, Australia to take a yearlong break from recording new music after they had cranked out CD after CD for years. While there, they also took their time of announcing their break publicly as well as using it to announce the abuse that they had endured as well as them being adopted (which cleared up a lot of questions and rumors). It was a touchy subject for the guys to bring up around their friends, so they went about it carefully.

"We are," Riley agreed. She flipped through the pages of the notebook. "But we can't stop writing songs, there's too much inspiration. So we decided that well write songs but not put so much importance on it. Besides, we still have so many demos that we're working through that we might put on our new CD." She flipped the notebook open and plopped it into Kendall's lap and pointed. "Those are the lyrics." She lifted her mp3 player and stuck one earbud in her ear and then leaned close to Kendall's side, putting the other one into his ear. "Listen."

_"Nothing ever stops all these thoughts and the pain attached to them. Sometimes I wonder why this is happening. It's like nothing I can do would distract me when, I think of how I shot myself in the back again. 'Cause from the infinite words I could say I put all pain you gave to me on display. But didn't realize instead of setting it free I, took what I hated and made it a part of me."_

Kendall nodded along with the music and then pulled the earbud back out of his ear when the demo had finished. It was a short one with only the verse and what he assumed would be the melody to the rest of the song. "It's good," he said honestly. "I like the rap motif it's got there."

"Thanks." Riley gave a proud smile as she wrapped the headphones around the mp3 player. "We got a lot of good feedback with _Forgotten _on our last album, with the whole rap idea so we thought it would be good if we brought it back again here." She shrugged. "But we haven't fully decided if we're gonna use this demo or not."

"Speaking of, how's your CD doing back home?" Kendall laid down on his side, stretching out on the couch, resting his head on the arm rest, keeping his feet on the floor so Riley had space on the couch. "Do you know the certification yet?"

"Not for another month." Riley twisted her mouth to the side. "But we did get some reviews for our songs off of it." She sat up straight. "Hey Little Man," she called. A few seconds later, Sydney pushed his way through a stack of clothes, now having a football jersey over his own clothes with a fedora on his head.

"Yeah?" He asked, sitting on the side of the couch.

"D'you remember the review that we got for Emotionless?" Riley asked. She widened her eyes at her baby brother and tilted her head over to Kendall. "Hockey-Head here really wants to know what they said."

"Do not!" Kendall tapped her on the arm with his foot.

"Sure." Sydney pulled his phone from his pocket and started to navigate to a website as Riley grabbed Kendall's foot under her arm and pulled off his shoe, tickling the bottom of his foot. Kendall laughed and pulled his foot away, sitting up. He leaned over, moving his hands towards her sides.

"Don't even think about it," she warned. She grabbed onto Sydney and pulled him into her lap. "I have a barrier, you can't get to me now." She stuck her tongue out at Kendall, causing him to stick his out back at her.

"Oh, here it is!" Sydney lowered his phone from his face and turned it horizontally so he could read it clearer.

_Emotionless__ is the eleventh song on the Black portion of the DarkElements' sixth studio album Black and White. Itis a co-write between DE's Riley Jackson and Big Time Rush's Kendall Knight and features the two of them on vocals. Most people wouldn't think that two bands that were supposed to be rivals (or two music genres that are total opposites of each other) would be able to create such a good song. When he was young, Kendall's father left his family and the feelings of that are represented here. The mysteriousness of Jackson's verse, which is a staple among DE's songs, is evident here as well. The acoustics are great, as well as the lyrics, and despite the depressing subject matter, they manage to make a somewhat uplifting song, especially the last chorus. This track has a sort of rising and falling feel to it. It starts off quiet and slow, then picks up for the chorus, then slows down again for the second verse, then builds up during the bridge, and then explodes for a final chorus before slowing down for a mellow ending._

"Cool." Kendall picked at the leather bracelet that was on his wrist.

"You could be a bit more enthusiastic about it," Riley said, her eyebrows furrowing together as she frowned. "What's wrong?" She studied Kendall carefully, a hint of concern in her eyes.

Kendall sighed loudly, knowing that he shouldn't try to deny it. Sometimes he forgot that the Jacksons were so perceptive of how other people were feeling. There were times that he liked it and times that he hated it. This time, he wasn't so sure what the feeling was.

"You're still coming to the hockey game tomorrow, right?" Kendall asked.

"That's what you're nervous about?" Riley raised an eyebrow and exchanged looked with Sydney. He shook his head, giving a cross between a smile and a relaxed look, before the two of them looked back over at Kendall, who looked even more nervous than he did seconds before. "Kendall, you're worrying over nothing."

"Yeah," Sydney piped up. He nodded. "You guys are great hockey players and just like all of the other times you've plaid, you make us proud."

"Yeah, but those were scrimmages." Kendall kept his gaze on his leather bracelet, still picking at it with his nails. He then lifted his hand to his mouth and started to bite at his fingernails. Riley reached over and knocked his hand out of his mouth.

Kendall looked at her and he saw that she was looking at him seriously.

"That doesn't make a difference," she said calmly. "Just play as if it was your last and you'll play like you always do." She tilted her head to the side. "Do you think that I would just tell you this for my health?"

"No." Kendall shook his head.

"So don't doubt me, boofhead." Riley exaggeratedly rolled her eyes, causing her brother to laugh. Kendall gave half smile, wanting to laugh as well, but was too nervous, thinking about the game. He wouldn't be so nervous if it weren't for the fact that it was for charity. Putting something like that onto a game that he typically enjoyed made it feel more real to him.

Sydney's phone buzzed in his hands and he opened a text message. "Ronan says that we can go and that he'll meet us at home later," He announced, turning to Riley. He then turned back to the costume closet and made a face. "Ooh, we probably should have cleaned more."

"We'll just blame it on Patrick somehow," Riley said, allowing Sydney to stand up before she got up as well. She then took the chance to look Kendall over. "Why are you dressed like my grandpa?"

Sydney laughed loudly as Kendall scowled, rolling his eyes. She used to be their stylist, that's what Gustavo had specifically hired her for when she and her siblings had signed contracts to work with Rocque Records two years ago. Even though she didn't style them anymore, at least not under contract, there were many times where Gustavo would call and demand that she did it, and other times she did it when she felt like it. And she was never hesitant to fix or comment on any of the guys's clothes when she saw something wrong.

"Just for that." Kendall stood up and held her notebook over his head. Riley and Sydney both flinched for a moment, but quickly calmed down. "You're not getting this back." He gave her a teasing smile.

Riley's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Do you want to lose your hand?"

"Not particularly."

"Then drop the notebook."

Kendall continued to hold the notebook above his head while Riley jumped up and down, trying to reach it. He merely watched as she continued to try and grab it. Sydney just stood off to the side, watching the two with a large smile on his face, his hands in his shorts pockets. Kendall tilted his head back and studied the notebook.

"Why are some of the pages dog-eared?" he asked.

"Because." Riley tried jumping up again, this time waving her arms, but still completely missed the notebook. "Those pages are private. Every song that I or we," she motioned to her brother. "Have written, are inspired by things that have happened to us. Some of that is really personal, so when Ronan wants to see what we've written, we dog-ear the pages that he's not allowed to see. And for that matter, neither are _you_!"

She jumped onto the couch and then onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist and leaning over his shoulder. She reached up and grabbed the notebook, tossing it down to her brother before resting her arms on his shoulder.

"I hate you," she said.

"No you don't." Kendall smiled as he lowered her to the floor.

"I know," Riley said. She put her arm around Sydney's shoulders. "C'mon, we don't want to keep the others waiting." Kendall, Sydney, and Riley left the costume closet, turning off the lights and locking the door behind them, before going down to the lobby. Riley left the keys to the costume closet with the receptionist, Annaleigh, before the three of them went outside Blazing Phoenix Records, when they spotted the others. "Hey, I hope we didn't keep you guys waiting long."

"Not really," Patrick shook his head. "Just a few minutes, Ronan only just sent us the text." He rocked back and forth on his feet. "Besides, James and Carlos were starting to make more messes than what we were cleaning up." He nodded over to the hockey sticks that they were trying to hide behind their backs.

Noah laughed quietly. "It was a welcome change though; I was getting tired of trying to remember where we had put all of the stamps."

"Cool thing was, finding all of the old fan-mail that got lost," Rhuben said. Then she shook her head. "Though I don't think we need more ping-pong balls or ping-pong paddles, we have enough to last us a lifetime." She turned to Kendall, nodding over at Logan, Carlos, and James. "These three said you all wanted to go to the hockey rink?"

"Just to get some last minute practice in," Carlos said, taking his stick from behind his back. He mimed shooting a goal.

"But." Noah blinked once. "It's cold there."

Kendall laughed along with his three best friends. While they had grown up in Minnesota and were used to the cold, the Jacksons had lived in Australia, Texas, and California, and were used to the warm weather. They hated anything to do with the cold and loudly complained if they were forced into something that had to do with it. When Big Time Rush had taken them with them to Minnesota for Christmas, they refused to leave the house without at least five layers of clothes underneath their jackets. The hockey rink wasn't nearly as cold as that, but from the way that the Jackson reacted, you would think that they would be stepping into a blizzard.

"Practice makes perfect," Logan said. "Besides, if you guys help us practice for the game tomorrow, we'll be sure to make it up to you somehow."

"I think somehow is the key word there," Sydney commented. He looked both ways before stepping off of the sidewalk and starting to walk through the parking lot. "Might as well, we don't have anything better to do."

Kendall, Logan, Carlos, James, Patrick, Noah, Riley, and Rhuben started to follow him across the parking lot to their cars. On the way, they passed a group of guys that were walking down the street towards them. When they spotted Riley and Rhuben, they started to make cat-calls and wolf-whistles as they watched the two girls walk by them. Kendall glanced at them before turning back to the girls, who hardly batted an eye.

"How do you do that?" He asked all of a sudden.

"Do what?" Riley asked, turning to look at him.

"How did you ignore those guys?" He asked, motioning behind them. "I mean, they were blatantly being…rude, and you didn't do or say anything."

"Really?" Rhuben looked over her shoulder and then shrugged. "I didn't even notice." She looked over at Riley who nodded in agreement. "It's not even that big of a deal, like those idiots even have a chance."

"Now when they're around at least." Riley laughed, motioning to Patrick and Noah, who looked annoyed. Even though they were younger than Riley and Rhuben by two, three years, they had a tendency to be overprotective when it came to people that they could potentially date or male fans. "They probably just recognize us from our band. It happens a lot. I'm sure girls do that to you guys too, flirt with you all the time."

"No." Logan denied.

"Not really." Carlos added, looking sad.

"Speak for yourselves." James said with a grin as he ran a hand through his silky locks.

"It's not even just that," Kendall continued as he stopped walking, causing the others to stop as well. "You're the epitome of what people would call 'bad girls'." He used air quotes around the words.

"I wouldn't say that, Eyebrows."

The nickname caused Kendall to roll his eyes at the dig to his uniquely large eyebrows.

Ever since he had met her, she was constantly calling him by a nickname and never by his real name. It seemed that every time he saw her, she had a new nickname for him and they were always the kind of nicknames that got on his nerves. The one that she decided to give him the most was 'Hockey-Head', based off of his obsession for the sport. It annoyed him at first, but that was the one that he got used to the most.

"It's true," Logan said with a nod. "And in the music industry it's what everyone generally pays attention to. Your black clothes, the music that you guys do, the way you act, the fact that to most people you're so mysterious-"

"Ok, now you're exaggerating." Patrick interrupted him, slapping his hand over Logan's mouth. "Most of what you just said is just for our media image."

"But it's the things that you guys have done too, it only adds onto your image. You don't take crap from anyone; you're not even scared of Gustavo." Kendall continued.

Noah gave a modest smile.

Kendall looked away for a moment and then looked back at Riley. "I bet a _lot_ of people would like to learn to be like that."

"Look," Rhuben rubbed her forehead. "It's not something that you could learn."

"Yeah," Riley moved her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. "It's just…something that you are, or it's the personality that you have. Just because we're not as open as other people and we're not into the bright girly colors…" she trailed off as she shrugged. "Besides, you're acting like you want to learn how to be a 'bad-boy. Not that it would matter, you couldn't be a bad-boy to save your life. Your act against WayneWayne wasn't even that convincing."

"With your help it could be." Kendall insisted, his face blank.

"I _told_ you, it's not something that you can _teach_."

"I bet you could," Kendall retorted.

Logan turned to attention. It was like he had some sort of sixth-sense when something was going to go wrong. He was right about 90% of the time, and usually tried to keep something bad from happening. But this seemed like it was going to be interesting more than anything else.

"Did I hear the word 'bet'?" he asked a mischievous smile on his face.

"I think I did," Sydney said, holding up a index finger, his eyes flashing mischievously.

"You did," Kendall agreed and then paused the game. He turned to face Riley. "I bet you that you can teach me how to be a 'bad boy'." He said using quotes around the words. "How to be a proper one, not the one that I pretended to be to get Gustavo and Griffin off of my back."

"What about the 'not-turning-your-back-on-your-friends' crap that you spewed out last time?" Rhuben reminded him. "What happened to that?"

"Yeah," James reached out and slapped Kendall on the chest. "You're not going to give up on the band are you?" He then smiled, seeming to have second thoughts. "Then again, if you're not there, I have a better chance of branching out to go solo."

"Hey!" Carlos cried, insulted.

"And you can be my backup dancer." James continued, putting an arm around Carlos's shoulders, causing him to beam and give James an excited hug in reply. James, when he was sure Carlos wasn't looking, then turned to the others and mouthed the words 'no he's not'.

"So if we're going to do this," Kendall rubbed his chin with his hand, trying to think of the parameters of the bet. "It has to take a while; it can't just be in a week's worth of time."

"Anyone can help?" Riley asked, her eyebrows rising as she exchanged glances with Rhuben. "I mean, 'cause there may be some things every now and then that I might need my siblings to help me with."

"No problem, Sis." Rhuben reassured her. "I'm sure the kids would love to help."

"Sounds good to me," Patrick agreed.

Riley nodded at her twin before rolling her eyes skyward. "Even though I know that there's no way that I can do this, 'cause like I said before, it's not teachable," she said it in a sing-song voice.

"Anyone can help," Kendall agreed. "Only thing is that they can't be stuck in the punishment depending on who loses the bet, it's only between you and me."

"Nothing illegal though." Logan jumped in, always the one that was conscious of the consequences of their actions. He was probably the only one that thought ahead on things like that before he went along with everyone with some sort of plan that Kendall came up with. "And it can't be harmful to our image or work with Gustavo." He added. "Kelly and Gustavo already worked hard enough on the way we're being perceived in the media and I don't want their hard work to be compromised."

"I don't think Ronan would be happy with it either," Noah agreed.

"That's fine." Riley sucked her lips into her mouth before looking back up the sidewalk. Her eyes moved back and forth across the street before she crossed her arms over her chest and jutting out her right hip. She smirked a little as she tilted her head back to look at Kendall. "What does the loser get?" Riley asked, seeming to mull it over.

"We can figure it out later." Kendall leaned forward, holding out his right hand. "Deal?"

"Hockey-Head." Riley grabbed his hand with hers. "You've got a deal."

They shook on it.

"To make this official, let's start tomorrow, because it's the beginning of the week," Kendall said as they started to walk again. "We can start after the hockey game. Cool?"

He held out his right fist. Riley recognized it and rolled his eyes, knowing that he wanted to do their 'special handshake' to seal the deal.

"Alright, but this is so stupid," Riley held her right fist out and pressed it against his; they then twisted their wrists so with their knuckles still pressed together they gave each other a thumbs up.

She then nodded and Kendall smiled to himself, happy that she was willing to do this. He knew it was a privilege for him. She never let people get close. After about two years, he was quite aware of that. She was complicated – either happy or depressed, and that could change in a moment. She was lonely, she was outgoing. She hid her troubles so well that sometimes he was sure she was perfect. To him she was smart, talented, witty, and spontaneous. With her jet black hair (with red streaks), dark blue eyes, and a smirk that was her default smile, she wasn't built like a super model. She was better.

Whenever she laid her blue eyes on him, he felt as if she was looking into his soul. But Riley wasn't innocent, she was far from that. She was sarcastic. She was outspoken, never afraid to speak her mind. She told it like it was. She never really thought before she said anything. She wasn't afraid of anybody. It was one of the things that made the two of them such good friends. That and because they had a lot in common; being leaders of their bands, playing the guitar, having younger siblings… Kendall always went to her for advice and they were interested in a lot of the same things. Because she was his best friend and he would do anything for her.

She was everything he never went for.

And she was all he could think about.

* * *

**A/N: **So if you follow us on twitter you'll notice that I've changed my mind on how this first chapter has gone at least four times now (and I'm still not completely satisfied). But I hope that you guys liked it. Oh, you're going to see more of the Jacksons' home life with Ronan in this story, so I hope you're excited for that.

Yeah, I'm back after two weeks. That was long enough for a break for me. But because I said that I was (originally) taking a break until march, I'll a update on March 1st to make it up to you. Because this is the only story I'm working on (for now) it'll be updated 2-3 times a week, or just when I feel that it's time to update. It took me a while to decide between this story and _Unsheltered_ and I got some people's opinion and finally did a randomizer site to choose one. I took the list of all of the stories I had coming up on our tumblr and put it into a randomizer and decided which one to go with, depending on which of the two came up first and this one did. So I'm doing this, then _Words, Hands, Hearts_, then _Unsheltered_, then _Havoc. _I'm not sure about the others yet.

So I plan it so that I only work on one story at a time and when I'm done with said story, I'm taking a week off before I upload a new one. So a week off in between each new upload. How does that sound?

The plot of the story was originally going to be when they were on tour, but I realized that with the timeline that that wouldn't work. I got the idea of this from some parts of the timeline we hadn't shown in a story before. The only thing I'm note sure of is whether or not Jo should be back or still in New Zealand when this story takes place, so what you guys think would be helpful. I'll update again soon.

*As a disclaimer, I don't own the review to Emotionless, it's from a review for Good Charlotte and tweaked a little to fit this story.*

Cheers,

-Riles


	2. First time your heart was broken

**.:Chapter 02:.**

_Sauté some anxiety and comments and let it boil until it starts to come to a head. Then gently cool it down until you're sure it won't burn itself out. _

* * *

_Bet- noun _

_An agreement usually between two parties that the one who has made an incorrect prediction about an uncertain outcome will forfeit something stipulated to the other; a wager._

"This is definitely a bet that I plan on winning too," she murmured to herself, her chin in her hand, glancing at the computer screen. She lifted her right hand off of her laptop and pushed her glasses up her nose.

"Did you say something?" Rhuben called from her bedroom, which was attached to Riley's with a sliding door. The two of them never closed it.

"I'm talking to myself," Riley called back. "I'm just saying that I'm going to win this bet, no matter what."

"With us helping you, there's no way that K-Dawg _could_ beat you," Rhuben agreed. "Sure, I may be laughing at you guys and saying what you're doing is stupid, but when have ever known the boys _not_ to do anything stupid."

"Exactly." Riley laughed.

Riley minimized the web page and looked at the background of her computer. It was split in half horizontally. The top picture was of her, her eldest brother Julius, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney with their parents about ten years ago. Sydney was only a baby then. She stared at the picture of the eight of them, on the beach, smiling brightly for the camera. It was one of the many 'family portraits' that their mother had insisted upon taking. Little did they know that it was going to be their last one together as a complete family. It was taken only half a year before the fire. She stared wistfully at the picture of her parents, frozen in time. Over the years she didn't think about them as much as she used to, though that didn't mean that she would allow anyone to talk badly about them. It was that she didn't get upset as she used to and would freely talk about them whenever someone asked.

It was the abuse that she couldn't talk about. Not seriously anyway. She and her siblings hated the attention and the fact that anyone that asked or accidentally brought it up acted like they were going to fall to pieces. That's why they made jokes about it, it was still really hard to talk about it, and they were still getting over it.

_It's not like we're going to get mad at you for bring it up. _Riley lightly shook her head. _Either ask what you want to ask or get over it. We're trying to._

She then lowered her gaze to the bottom picture. That was the most recent one, taken last year when Ronan had officially adopted her and her siblings. In reminiscence to the photo taken above, which was unanimously decided on by her and her siblings, it was Ronan, Julius, Riley, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney all smiling brightly for the camera as they stood on the beach. Rhuben had taken that picture on a timer, and then they had spent the rest of the day at the beach, just hanging out.

_At least things are better for us now. _

She lifted her hand and pushed down the lid of her laptop until it closed completely. She then turned around in her chair and got up, stretching her arms over her head and leaving her room. She went into the bathroom and flipped on the light, opening the medicine cabinet. Seven medicine bottles stared her back in the face. She picked one up and looked at the name on the bottle: Rilandon Sydney Jackson. She made a face; she hadn't seen her name spelled out completely for a long time, it was slightly jarring to her.

Riley lightly shook the bottle, frowning when she realized that there weren't many pills left. She closed it in her first before closing the door to the medicine cabinet, studying her reflection in the mirror that was on the front of the door. She couldn't help but smile. She definitely was a lot happier now than she had been before; she had great friends, a flourishing music career, great fans, and an amazing family that she loved dearly. It was the first time that she had smiled that much in a long time and she hoped that things would stay that way.

"What the?! _Patrick!"_

"Uh-oh," Riley turned off the bathroom light and stepped outside into the hallway as Rhuben flung open the door to her room and stormed towards the stairs. "What'd I miss? What'd the boofhead do this time?"

"You're going to miss me kicking his bloody face in," Rhuben growled as she hurried down the stairs, Riley trailing after her. Patrick was sitting on the couch, Noah was in an armchair, and Sydney was lying on the floor. All three of them looked up when their sisters entered the room. "Patrick," Rhuben repeated, her teeth gritted together.

"Uh-oh." Patrick sat up straight, giving a nervous smile. "What'd I do?"

"Have you been using my CD player?" Rhuben asked, holding her hand out, the object resting in her palm, being held by her fingers.

Patrick thought for a moment and then shook his head. "No," he said finally.

"Then why is there," Rhuben slid the bar on the front of her CD player to the side and the lid popped open. She reached inside and pulled out a piece of lunchmeat, waving it in the air. Sydney sat up from the floor and looked over at Noah with a raised eyebrow. Noah merely shrugged in reply. "Bologna in it?"

"Oh!" Patrick grinned widely. "Well, I was making a sandwich, like, two days ago, and then Ronan called me upstairs to ask me about my homework, which of course I hadn't started, and then when I went back downstairs, I realized I didn't have it in my hand anymore and I assumed that one of the dogs got to it." He blinked once. "Are you mad?"

"You got that right!" Rhuben snapped her CD player shut.

"Then it's doing its job!" Patrick beamed.

"Beauty." Noah smiled.

Rhuben gave him a murderous look as Riley, Sydney, and Noah started to laugh. Riley rand and jumped onto the couch, causing Patrick to let out a grunt of pain as she landed on his lap. "Pat, next time you have a death wish, why don't you just go in and break all of her CDs." She flipped her pigtail over her shoulder.

"Ha ha," Patrick rolled his eyes. "So I stuffed up, ay."

"That wouldn't make her murder him," Noah pointed out, his leg crossed at the knee, slouched so far down in the chair that he was sitting in that the others wondered if he had sank into the cushions. "That'd just make her head explode, yeah."

"Oh!" Sydney pushed himself up into a sitting position, his eyes shining. "That would be cool to watch!"

"Syd!" Rhuben shot him a look of offense as she sat down on the floor, resting her back against the couch.

"Well, we all have to make sacrifices _some_ time, Rhu-Rhu." Sydney shrugged as his siblings laughed again. He then turned towards his eldest sister and pointed at the bottle that was in her hand. "What's that?"

"Oh," Riley held up the bottle. "Does anyone else need their medicine refilled? I need mine done and thought that I would ask." She tossed the plastic bottle onto the floor before stretching out onto the other side of the leather couch. She then looked at the clock, sighing loudly when her siblings shook their heads. "I'm bored; does anyone want to go to the beach?"

"We were just there this morning," Sydney remarked. "My hair is still wet from being there." He shook out his hair to prove his point. "Not that I'm complaining," he added quickly, seeing the shocked looks on his siblings faces.

"I was going to say," Noah smiled. "If you hated the beach, we would have to disown you."

Sydney frowned and picked up a pillow, tossing it at his brother. Noah grabbed it out of thin air and gave his youngest brother a warning look before he charged at him. Sydney let out a loud scream ad leapt to his feet before he started to run around the spacious living room; Riley, Rhuben, and Patrick screaming and cheering for their brothers.

While they had been back home in Australia at the start of their break, Ronan had finalized a sale and bought them a house to live in. So he, Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney had packed up their stuff and moved out of his apartment and into the house. They hadn't finished moving in completely, they probably had a couple more weeks to go before they could say that they were all moved in. Most of their dishes and silverware hadn't been unpacked, their rooms were filled with boxes of their stuff, the basement was still a mess, Ronan's office was still in boxes, and for the most part, they were still living out of their suitcases. But it was home to them and they were still getting used to it.

As Sydney took another lap around the couch, Noah cut back and dove over the couch, knocking his brother to the floor and started to hit him over the head with a pillow. The three older children continued to cheer loudly, watching as Noah and Sydney continued to hit each other.

Rhuben turned her attention to her phone as it let out the Power Rangers communicator sound, letting her know that she had gotten a text. "Hey, hold up!" She called, holding up a hand. Noah and Sydney kneeled behind the couch, resting their arms on the couch. Sydney to the chance to knock Noah to the floor, giggling to himself.

**To: Rhuben**

**Hey, you guys need to go down to Rocque Records. Kelly, Gustavo, and I need to talk to ya.**

**From: Ronan/Dad**

"Ronan says we need to go to Rocque Records," she said, sliding off of the couch. "Apparently he, Gustavo, and Kelly have something they need to tell us." She spun her phone in her hand. "I wonder what about."

"He would have waited to get home if it wasn't important," Riley commented. "Ace, we have something to do. So we should be going now." She and her siblings went over to the front door to grab their shoes. "Oh," she turned to Patrick. "And could you please _not_ stick your head out the window like a dog this time?"

"Hey." Patrick shrugged. "You and Rhubes were the ones that raised me. So If I act like a dog," he gave an evil smile. "It's because I learned it from you."

Riley's and Rhuben's mouths dropped open as Sydney and Noah laughed loudly. Riley pointed at him. "I'm warning you, dude, sleep with your eyes open."

"Yes, ma'am." Patrick smiled.

* * *

"Hey guys, we have to get going, Gustavo sent us a text saying we need to get to Rocque Records and-" Kendall said as he walked out f his room to the sitting area of apartment 2J. He stopped and stared when he noticed his friends all standing still in the middle of the room, holding onto a golf club, a hockey stick, and a fly swatter. He then looked around and noticed the holes in the walls of the apartment, his eyes widening. "What happened?!"

"We're trying to kill a fly," Carlos said in a whisper, his eyes slowly moving under the brim of his hockey helmet.

"I can see that," Kendall snapped. "But why are you using a baseball bat and a golf club?"

"Because we ran out of flyswatters," James replied and Logan, who was standing beside him, moved the flyswatter up and down.

Kendall mentally face palmed as he looked around the apartment. He slowly shook his head, his eyes growing wide as he surveyed the damage. Yep, his mother was going to kill him. His phone buzzed in his hand and he remembered why it was that he wanted to get the guys' attention in the first place.

"Right, guys we need to get to Rocque Records," Kendall put his phone back into his pocket. "Gustavo says that he and Kelly have something really important to tell us."

"Like what?" James asked as he put down his hockey stick.

"I don't know," Kendall shook his head. "But his text wasn't in caps, so I guess that means he's not mad at us for anything." He added as an afterthought. "Which is really unlike him, but if he's in a good mood, I'm going to take advantage of it."

"Then we should probably get going now." Logan agreed, putting down his fly swatter. He turned to James and Carlos, placing his hands on his hips and giving him a hard stare. James and Carlos looked at each other, disappointment evident on their faces before they reluctantly tossed the baseball bat and hockey stick onto the couch.

"You ruin all the fun," Carlos complained, lightly kicking at the ground.

"Yeah, you're such a fun sucker." James agreed.

"I am _not _a fun sucker!" Logan denied.

"Yeah, you kind of are," Kendall said and patted Logan on the shoulder. "But that's ok, because we love you anyway." He laughed and waved an arm, leading the guys out of the apartment. They walked the short walk to the PalmWoods, stopping to sign autographs for a couple of people, before they headed inside and sat down on the couches in the waiting area before Kelly came and got them.

Kendall tilted his head back, closing his eyes as he thought about what he could possibly do to make sure that his mother didn't kill them. He could always butter her up with flowers and a gift, but she usually saw right through that. Besides, it wasn't like they could hide the holes in the wall anyway; even someone that was completely _blind _would be able to see them. There was no way around it this time, they were definitely dead.

"Hey Mopey McMopster, what's wrong?" Kendall opened his eyes to see Riley leaning over the top of the couch, looking down into his face. "You look like you've just lost your best friend." She remarked.

"How's that possible?" Kendall smiled. "You're right there."

"Thanks for that, Kendork." Riley pushed herself up and walked around him, holding her fist out and the two did their secret handshake before she sat down on the couch next to James, pulling her feet up onto the cushions as she leaned into his side. He smiled and put an arm around her. Kendall frowned. "I needed an ego boost today."

"So what happened?" Rhuben asked as she and her brothers sat down on the empty spaces of the couches as well, she leaned into James's other side. If it was possible, James's mega-watt smile got even brighter.. She peered closely at Knedall. "You _really_ do look like you're going to die."

"These turds over here," Kendall pointed at James, Carlos, and Logan as he sat up straight in his chair. "Though that it was a good idea to try and kill a fly with a hockey stick and a golf club."

"In my defense, I was using the flyswatter." Logan piped up.

"It's not that hard to fix a wall," Sydney snorted, rolling his eyes. "All you need is sandpaper, a putty knife, spackle, a wall hole, patch, and a wet sponge of spray bottle, a wall texture spray, paint, and a paintbrush." He started to count off on his fingers. "Then you just clean and square up the hole with a saw or knife, find a piece of wood long enough to fill in the hole, use drywall screws to secure the wood, find a scrap piece of drywall and cut it to fit the hole, screw it to the wood that is now behind it, plaster it, sand it, prime it, paint it, and kiss the hole-"he made a smacking sound with his mouth. "Goodbye."

"You make it sound _so _easy, Syd," Kendall said with a slight eye roll.

"No." James laughed. "He makes it sound like he's needed to do it before."

"With those two around." Sydney pointed to his older brothers. "You learn how to do it quickly."

"What are you guys doing here anyway?" Carlos asked, tilting his head to the side and resting his cheek on his hand. His helmet slid down over his face and he made no move to fix it. "I thought that you weren't doing anything, like all day."

"You're right." Rhuben nodded. "But Ronan said that we needed to come to Rocque Records because he and Gustavo had something that they needed to tell us." She cracked her knuckles before dropping them into her lap. "I assume that's why you lot are here as well?"

The boys nodded in reply.

Everyone got up when they noticed Kelly walking over to them, a bright smile on her face. She looked as put together as usual, sometimes the guys were positive that throughout the day she went to the bathroom to change her clothes/make sure she looked good; because dealing with Gustavo all the time caused people a lot of stress and that would make them care less about their appearance. Kelly seemed to be the only person that could deal with Gustavo's antics, she was the only one that seemed to be able to work with Gustavo for more than a year, and it would probably take a lot for her to be scared away from him.

"Hey, how's everyone doing today?" She asked.

"We're fine, Kelly, thanks for asking." Noah replied with a smile and a nod.

"You're welcome," Kelly hitched up the folders that were in her arms. "I'm sure that you guys are wondering why you're here, I won't leave you in suspense anymore." She turned on her heel. "Follow me."

Kelly led them to Gustavo's office and when they got inside, they noticed that Ronan was there as well, standing behind Gustavo, his hands in his jeans pockets. Ronan McGuire was the Jacksons' manager and music producer as well as their newly adoptive father. He was Gustavo's complete opposite as Ronan was very patient, kind, and laid-back, though he knew when to be serious. Somehow, the two managed to get along, though with outwards appearances (their constant bickering with each other) many people wouldn't think so.

"Hey guys," Ronan greeted Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James as they stood in front of Gustavo's desk.

"Hey," James replied, accompanied with a slight nod. "So, what's up?"

"Dogs, I'm going to cut to the chase," Gustavo said as he stood up. He put his hands behind his back and started to pace back and forth behind his desk. "You've been doing a good job with your music. I can admit that, but you can do better as well." He nodded once. "I can admit that too. You never listen to me and you don't take authority very well-"

"I thought that we were supposed to be getting news, not be berated." Logan said as he raised a hand.

"Quiet, you!" Gustavo snapped. Logan immediately snapped his mouth shut, miming locking his mouth and throwing away the key for added effect. Two years with Gustavo and he still got scared of the man. "Now, like I was saying, you don't respect me," he then pointed half-heartedly over at Ronan as his upper lip curled. "But for some unfathomable reason, you respect him."

Ronan rolled his eyes as the DarkElements snickered lightly. He cleared his throat. "And while I don't necessarily condone the way that Gustavo runs things, the fact that he's willing to do whatever it takes to help you guys-"

"-And get Griffin off my back," Gustavo continued.

Ronan ignored him. "Shows a lot about his character. So, we thought that it would be a good idea if we tried to put our strengths together."

"Meaning?" Patrick's right eyebrow rose. "Oh, I know." He gave a lop-sided smile. "You guys are going to try and overthrow all the other record companies in LA."

"No," Kelly said shortly. She lightly rolled her eyes as Patrick shrugged, un-offended. "They might become _partners_ in the Record Company. Starting with your two bands," she said, holding out her hands to Big Time Rush and the DarkElements. "We don't know if it's going to happen this year, but we wanted you to know what's in store for the future of your bands. And we're making sure we have the changing trends in the industry covered"

"So what does that mean, exactly?" Riley asked, scratching the side of her neck. "Scheduling and performance wise. I mean, considering we're taking a break."

"Oh, not much is going to change," Ronan reassured her. He placed a hand on his chest. "You're still going to be under Blazing Phoenix Records and work for me, and you can still help Gustavo and the guys if and when they need it, but still not under a contract, really. It means that your public appearances, press conferences, and interviews are now going to be more with BTR than by yourselves now."

"Also," Gustavo held up a finger. "We want you guys to write more songs together." He turned to his desk and picked up a large stack of paper. "It's all spelled out in these." Kelly took it from Gustavo and handed it over to Logan to look over.

Logan didn't have to take long to look them over; of course he was going to sign it. The one thing that they wanted for their band was to be able to work with some of the biggest names in the industry, the people that they had looked up to for years, watching their videos, and listening to their music over and over again. Working even closer with their best friends was even better than that. But at the same time, they were trying to make a name for themselves; they were going to announce their plans for a third album soon, so how was this going to help them?

"Cool," James's eyes lit up. "Where do we sign?" He asked with a grin.

* * *

"Do we have time to get something to eat before the hockey game?" Camille asked as she lightly rubbed her stomach, looking on hungrily as she and her friends passed an Auntie Anne's in the mall's food court. "I'm hungry." Her stomach growled as if to emphasize her point, causing her to blush.

That night, Big Time Rush was going to be participating in a charity hockey match. It was originally Kendall's idea; he was the one that went to Gustavo saying that he and the guys were slightly annoyed that they had to give up what was their life back in Minnesota to become a band. So after a lot of consideration and talking with Kelly (as well as yelling at the boys) Gustavo realized that it could bring in a lot of attention to the band. So now, about once a month or once every two months, the guys were able to play in a hockey game, with the proceeds from ticket sales going to any charity that they chose. All of their friends were going to attend the game that night.

"Oh yeah, we have plenty of time," Stephanie said. She looked at her watch. "The game doesn't start for another hour and a half." She turned to their other companions, Lizzie Zevon, Katie, and Riley and Rhuben. "So we have plenty of time."

Riley craned her neck to look at a mannequin as they passed a store. She slowed to a stop. "Hey wait up, let me check this tore for a minute." She called to the other girls before they crowded inside the front of the store. "And to answer your question, we haven't talked about it yet; he's been too busy getting ready for the hockey game tonight."

"I still can't believe that you guys are forcing me to go," Lizzie grumbled as she rested her arms on the top of a rack of clothes. "I'm not that big a fan of hockey. I find it boring and barbaric if you ask me."

"Yeah, but the guys are your friends too, so you should support them." Katie reminded her. "Even if we have to bound and gag you to get you there."

"Now _there's _an idea," Rhuben smiled teasingly.

Lizzie reached out and smacked her on the arm as she rolled her eyes. She then turned to watch as Riley picked out a pair of overall jean shorts from the rack and held them up, looking them over. Jo's eyes lit up. "Those would be so cute on you, Riles." She said. "What's the occasion?"

"Uh, hello?" Rhuben waved a hand in front of Lizzie's face. The leather wristbands that she was wearing, jingling together as they shook back and forth on her arm with her movements. Her blue eyes narrowed slightly. "It's for the party after the hockey game."

"I thought that you were just wearing your hockey jerseys," Camille said. "You know," she added nonchalantly. "Unless you're superficially dressing up for someone..."

Stephanie laughed. In their group of friends, BTR, DE, Jo, Camille, Stephanie, Katie, Dak, WayneWayne, and Dak's little sister, Lizzie, Jo and Camille were well known for being the 'matchmakers' of their group, with Jo being the real ring-leader. The two girls gossiped about boys around the PalmWoods pool so much that they started to set people up, whom they thought would be good together. Unfortunately for everyone else, that meant that the two girls' opinions on their love lives should be expected.

"You really should have seen that coming," Stephanie said as the twin girls rolled their eyes and Katie laughed.

"Ok, well let's at least figure out what we're wearing so we don't worry about wearing the same thing." Camille relented.

"Ugh," Katie rolled her eyes. "Do we _have_ to?" She asked, busying herself with lightly tugging on a hanger that was on the rack beside her.

She wasn't even looking at the clothes that it contained. Katie wasn't the kind of girl that particularly enjoyed going shopping or talking about clothes; but she liked to be included. She also liked being able to hang out with the girls every now and then, it at least kept her from having to deal with the guys' constant stupidity.

"Yes, we do," Lizzie said with a nod. "Because if we want to look fabulous, we don't want to look the same." She them motioned over to Riley and Rhuben. "Besides, only those two can pull it off."

"Thank you," the twin girls chorused.

"But I don't want to talk about that," Katie said and then turned to Riley and smiled evilly. "I want to talk about the bet that I heard about." She said. Camille titled her head to the side as Jo and Stephanie exchanged confused glances. "Apparently Kendall and Riley have a bet going on?"

"A bet about what?" Stephanie asked, pulling her hair behind her ears. "It must be something good if you decided to go along with it."

"Not that I really back down from a challenge anyway," Riley said with a half smile. She sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. "Kendall wants me to teach him how to be a bad-boy. I say that you _can't _teach it. So we have a bet going on."

"Anyone can help any person win," Rhuben added. "The only thing is that it can't be harmful to any of their careers." She added, crossing her arms over her chest. "Personally, I think this is going to be really entertaining."

"That's because you don't have to listen to Kendall talk all the time." Riley reminded her twin. She then looked at Lizzie, who looked like she was about to burst. "Any particular reason why you're looking at me like that?"

"No reason," Lizzie's smile widened as she shrugged. But the light dance in her eyes let the other girls know that there was something that she wasn't telling them. "No reason at all, I just think that the bet sounds like it could be fun. Anyway, how long does it go for?"

"Don't know," Katie spoke up. "They hadn't specified the whole details about it yet."

"Well, my money's on you," Stephanie said, lightly knocking Riley on her arm. "You know girl power and all that."

"If you want, you could take my place, I'd be glad for you to do it," Riley waved a hand. Stephanie then raised an eyebrow and shook her head, letting her know that it wasn't going to happen.

Rhuben laughed lightly at her twin. She crossed her arms over her chest and bent her head, moving her black hair form her face. "If you didn't want to do it, then why did you agree to the bet in the first place?"

"Well, for one reason, it was so I could get Hockey-Head, to stop talking," Riley said as she held up her index finger. "Because I don't think he has ever since I met him." The girls laughed lightly at her statement. "And two," she smirked, giving the peace sign. "I'm waiting to see the look on his face when I tell him what I have in mind for the loser of the bet."

"Are you _sure_ that's the only reason?" Camille teased.

Riley knew what she was getting at. She thought for a long moment, trying to decide how she wanted to answer the question. Finally, she took the overalls and threw it over her arm. "I'm sure."

* * *

_Finally, it's time for the hockey game._

Kendall took a deep breath as he and his friends started to walk across the parking lot to the Staples Center. Moms, Dads, and little kids all dressed in hockey gear and wearing face paint moved by him. He turned to James, who had been talking to him about something for the past five minutes, his hands were moving animatedly and his mouth was moving at a mile a minute, but Kendall wasn't listening to a word that he was saying.

It was strange.

It was the first time that he was actually nervous to play a game of hockey. He wasn't sure if it was because of the fact that it was really their first game since they had left Minnesota. Sure, he would practice whenever he would need to clear his head, but he hadn't played anyone in a long time. He hadn't been checked into the boards in a long time, he hadn't had that adrenaline rush run through him, not the same way that working in the band would. He let out a sigh, rubbing his palms on the sides of his jeans, wiping the sweat off as he did so.

"Hold up a second, Hockey-Head." Riley grabbed onto Kendall's arm and pulled him back, causing the two to walk a few paces behind the others. He turned to look at her curiously. Much like the other participants, Riley was wearing a hockey jersey for the game as well. But hers and her siblings were handmade and were in support of Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James. All five of them even had BTR painted on the sides of their faces and the BTR logo on the other side.

Kendall let out a slight sigh through his nose as he shoved his hands into his jean pockets, the weight of his hockey bag digging painfully into his shoulder.

"Why are you so nervous?" Riley's eyes were narrowed slightly, holding a lot of concern.

That was something else that he liked about her (and her siblings for that matter) all five of them were very perceptive, they could usually tell whenever something was wrong with someone, even if it was a few seconds after getting some bad news; no matter how hard they tried to hide it. The fact that they cared so much about their friends and people in general didn't hurt either. He had seen them give up some of their free time just to hang out with some fans that they had bumped into as they had come from overseas to attend a performance that they were going to make.

Kendall's eyebrows furrowed together. _How could she tell? _He shook his head before looking at her, taking a small step back so he could look down at her. "I'm not nervous," he said as convincingly as possible. "What makes you say that?"

"Well," Riley pointed at his chest. "For one, your jersey is on backwards." Kendall looked down and groaned lightly when he realized that his shirt was in fact on backwards. He dropped his bag to the ground and brought his arms into the sleeves of his shirt to turn it around. He looked away when he picked up his bag and put it over his shoulders again, "And for another, you haven't talked much since we've gotten here, which is saying a lot."

Kendall shrugged, using his shoulder to push his fringe out of his face. "It's not that I'm nervous…" he stalled, trying to figure out what to say.

He didn't know why, but he couldn't admit it. The 'leader' part of him, the 'strong' part of him couldn't let him admit that anything was wrong. He was the one that always stood up for his friends whenever something was going wrong or whenever they were being picked on. He really showed his emotions when it came to injustice, but he was never really that great with expressing his own emotions; not when it made him feel too vulnerable and open. Not when it made him feel like he was less than a man. The bitterness ran through his body; it was something his father tried to teach him years ago. It was probably the only thing that he still kept from his father, other than his hair color, eye color, and facial structure.

"Bullshit," Riley disagreed.

Kendall gave her a half-smile, somewhat grateful that she called his bluff on it. A greater part of him was annoyed, but he was still grateful.

"I don't even see why you're nervous, mate, we've gone through this before," Riley said as she crossed her arms over her chest, after a long minute of looking at him. "You're the freaking captain of your high school's hockey team, since you were a freshman no less. You want to be a player for the Maple Leafs if not the Minnesota Wild. This is just one game, for charity, that's not going to make much of a difference." She shook her head. "I get it, though; you want to be sure that this whole thing is a success."

"You know me too well." Kendall said.

"No," Riley corrected him. "It's the same thing I've said since I first met you; I can see right through you." She looked away. "It's just as well, our bands are close, and I can see everything that's bothering you guys." She added modestly.

Kendall smiled as he looked around at the parking lot. So many more people were streaming into the building, waiting to see him and his friends play. He didn't have a ego about it, Ever since they announced on ScuttleButter and on their group and individual MyFace pages that they were going to be playing in the charity hockey game, they had gotten nothing but comments of how their fans were rooting for them and how some of them were going to see the game. At first, it was flattering, now it just made him even more nervous than he could imagine.

"Kendall, you're going to do fine."

That got his attention. The only times Riley ever called him by his actual name was when she was mad at him or whenever she was being serious. And since he couldn't see any redness in her face, he knew that she wasn't mad.

"How can you be so sure?

Riley shrugged. "How can you not?"

"You're amazing," Kendall reached out and lightly jostled her arm. "You know that?"

"Glad you think so," Riley smirked. "Now, are you ready to kick some ass?"

"Yeah."

* * *

"Patrick," Mrs. Knight got Patrick's attention, pointing down the crowded steps. "Our seats are over there," She called. Patrick nodded and gave the peace sign before lightly pushing Noah to move in front of him. Noah started to walk further down the steps, but losing his footing; he tripped and fell down a couple of stairs. Around him, hockey fans let out gasps of worry as he came to a stop.

"Watch your step, the stairs are uneven!" Patrick said loudly to the others as he pointed down at his brother.

"No shit!" Noah shouted back. He got to his feet and roughly brushed off his clothes before reaching over and smacking Patrick on the back of the head.

Katie couldn't help but let out a surprised laugh. She knew that the bad language, which was so rare to come out of Noah's mouth, especially around women, was showing how annoyed he was. "Isn't this so exciting?" She asked as she sat down in her seat and pushed up the sleeves of her sweater. "I haven't watched a hockey game since we left Minnesota."

"You must miss it," Camille remarked as she moved into her spot beside Katie.

"Every now and then," Katie replied with a wave of her hand, her eyes scanning the eyes, waiting for her brother to come out. She gripped a large, neon green poster board sign in her hands. "But it can't beat LA, it has better food, cooler stars, more things to do, you know." She finally turned away from the ice and looked around the stands. All of their friends were there; Patrick, Noah, Sydney, Camille, and Jo took up one row, Riley, Rhuben, Stephanie, Gustavo, Ronan, and Mrs. Knight took up the row behind them. All of them were in support for her brother and their friends.

It was going to be a great game.

"But Minnesota is home, so that's the one thing that LA can't take from me." Katie concluded with a bright smile.

"Speaking of 'home," Lizzie said as she stood up from her seat. "I think Dak is lonely back at home, so I'm just going to go and-"Stephanie reached out and pushed Jo back down onto her seat, causing the blonde to pout and cross her arms over her chest.

"You're going to sit here with the rest of us and support our friends," Stephanie said patiently as she crossed her legs.

"Couldn't I just…support them from home?" Lizzie whined.

"No!" Came the unanimous reply.

The auditorium erupted into cheers as the two teams were announced and the players took the ice. Kati leapt to her feet and cheered loudly as she waved around her _My Big Brother is cooler than your Big Brother_ sign. The Jacksons jumped to their feet and started to wave their signs as well, Mrs. Knight, Ronan, Gustavo, Camille, and Stephanie clapped along with the audience, but Lizzie was the only one that stayed sitting, her chin in her hands, looking completely bored.

The game began with a face-off from James and the center forward from the opposing team and the game way underway. Both teams were evenly matched as the first five minutes blurred by with a lot of back and forths, though no goals had been scored. The game proceeds through the first period and fouls and penalties are flying all over the place from the opposing team. Obviously they had heard of how good Big Time Rush was, and was trying to keep them from scoring anyway that they could think of, by running out the clock. It was working, the first period ended and there was still no score.

"Ugh, they're going to have to play harder if they're going to get that goal," Noah mumbled, his chin in his hands.

"Don't worry," Katie reached over and patted him on the back. "They're going to get it, they're going to win."

"But the other team's defense is good," Patrick reminded her. "They're staying close to the goal and giving up a penalty whenever they can, just so they can make sure that Kendall doesn't get a goal, they're really gunning for him.

"The best bet for them is to get it to Carlos, James, or Logan for a while," Noah added. "They're starting to realize that Kendall is the lead scorer."

"I'm sure that everyone would love to see Carlos get fouled after 'unsportsmanlike roughhousing," Ronan laughed, rubbing his hands together for warmth. "Depending on what that entails these days."

"A trip to the hospital, I'm sure," Mrs. Knight replied with a half smile. "You wouldn't believe how many times I was there in a month back in Minnesota." She turned to speak directly to Gustavo and Ronan. "It got so bad that the hospital staff knew me by name after two weeks."

"Hmm," Gustavo tapped his chin. "Maybe I should add that they can't play hockey to their list of dangerous things that they're not allowed to do."

"Not unless you want to kill them," Mrs. Knight warned him. "Or your company. If you do that, they'll be sure to strike."

"Oh yeah," Ronan rolled his eyes. "That really went over well, _last_ time." He said sarcastically.

The second period quickly drew to a close. 10 seconds left and the fans were starting to become just as frustrated as Big Time Rush felt. Still no goal and things were getting really messy on the court. Kendall hadn't had any free space for the whole period; three people were on him almost at all times. Then the period was over. The fans applaud as the teams make their way back to the locker rooms.

Stephanie ran her hands over her face. "Kendall is getting really frustrated." She muttered. "It's not helping his game play at all."

"I know," Katie groaned. "He's _never_ played this badly before!" She shoved her gloved hands under her armpits to keep them warm. "He must be really nervous. Normally he would be knocking players left and right, now he's being knocked silly."

"It's probably just the nerves after playing their first game in a long time," Camille reassured her, placing her hand on Katie's shoulder. "I'm sure that they can come back and win."

"I hope so," Katie mumbled. _Come on, Big Brother. I know that you guys can do this. This is what you lived for, playing in arenas so big, where everyone knows your name. Just think of this as practice for the real thing._

The teams returned to the ice and when Katie spotted her brother skating around, his helmet in his hand, looking up at the stands for his friends, she mentally sent him waves of good luck, hoping that they would reach him. When Kendall spotted his sister, he mustered up a smile and she grabbed her sign and held it up over her head for him to see. Kendall noticed it and laughed; nodding and pointing to her before putting his helmet back on, joining the others as they continued to skate around the rink, warming up once more. The game resumed, still scoreless, and Kendall and the others were definitely starting to play better.

The puck went back and forth across the ice. While the other team continued to gun for Kendall; James, Carlos, and Logan took up the lead for their team and started to take more shots on goal, taking more hits as well. But no matter how hard they tried, even with a few impressive shots by the three boys, there was still no score and it was starting to get late into the third period.

It may end as a tie.

There were now two minutes left of the game.

The guys were tied with their opponents and they had a two-man advantage. By now, everyone in the stands were on their feet, the ones closets to the boards were slamming their hands on the Plexiglas to the rhythm of the rock song that blared in the arena, covered by the screams of the hockey fans. James had the puck, he passed it to Logan who brought it up the rink and was about to shoot but faked it and passed to Carlos. Carlos took a shot on goal, but the puck bounced off the back boards. Kendall broke away from the defenders and swooped around the back of the goal, picking it up and moving back in front of the goalie.

Kendall stopped and stared at the target ahead of him.

"Come on, boys, you have about a minute left, you can do it!" Mrs. Knight yelled loudly.

"Is it time to go home yet?" Lizzie asked. She finally tore her eyes away from her phone, which she had been engrossed in since the game practically started. Every now and then, Katie would whack her on the arm, getting her attention for when she had to cheer for her friends. Lizzie glanced around the ice and then looked up at the scoreboard. "Guess not," she said and then became engrossed in her phone once more.

**_BANG!_** A player slammed into the boards in front of them, startling Lizzie enough to jump and let out a loud shriek. She blushed as her friends laughed.

"That'll teach you to watch the game," Sydney said as he lowered his sign from over his head. He laughed before patting Lizzie on the arm. "It's not that bad, Lil Bit, come stand next to me." Lizzie sighed as she stood up with her friends. "Come on, it's the last few minutes, and it's a tie. We need them to get a goal; your support will really help."

"I just never got the appeal of people getting smashed into the walls of the rink." She muttered.

"Are you kidding?" Rhuben cried. "I mean," she motioned to herself and her sister. "We don't really get the rules of hockey or whatever, but watching people get hurt is the best part!"

"It's the _only_ reason we'll brave the cold." Riley added.

"COME ON, GUYS!" Katie screamed, bouncing up and down on her toes.

She climbed up onto the bench and started to jump harder when she saw that her brother had the puck and was making a breakaway towards the goal. Logan, James, and Carlos shoved opposing team members out of their way as they skated up, trying to foul Kendall before he could get a shot. With 20 seconds left, Kendall faked right, then faked left, and shot the puck to the right side of the goalie.

The whole crowd stopped to watch the red light go off meaning they scored.

Then the final buzzer rang meaning it was the end of the game.

The whole crowd was screaming.

Big Time Rush had won.

The group waited for the crowd to diminish before they made their way from their seats to go congratulate their friends. Gustavo saw them first and cheered loudly for them, causing their friends to erupt into cheers as they walked down the hallway from the locker room. Jo, Camille, and Stephanie cheered loudly, bouncing up and down on their toes as they cheered. Ronan whistled through his laps as he clapped along with them.

The four Minnesota boys blushed at the attention, but they were pleased by all of the attention that they were getting.

"GREAT JOB, DOGS!" Gustavo shouted loudly, punching the air with his fists. "Now I, kinda, sorta, get why you guys love this game so much." He reached out and slapped Carlos on the shoulder so hard that it almost knocked him over. "Good job."

"Thanks Gustavo," Carlos replied before grabbing Stephanie in a hug, spinning her around.

"Good game, Carlos." Stephanie smiled warmly at him, squeezing him around the shoulders once more.

"Thanks Steph." Carlos smiled back.

"Kendall!" Katie cheered as she sprang towards her brother and gave him a hug around the waist. "Great job!" She cheered. She laughed as Kendall picked her and gave her a loud kiss on the cheek before giving her a hug back. "You did an _amazing _job!"

"Congratulations sweetie," Mrs. Knight added, leaning over and giving her son a kiss on his dimpled cheek. She then gave him a warm hug, looking at him with nothing but pride in her eyes. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks, Mom." Kendall gave her a hug back.

"Nice job, guys!" Patrick and Noah chorused as they gave each of the guys a high-five. Noah then moved his hair out of his face. "I really thought that it was going to go into overtime." He grinned. "But you really pulled it out in the end. It was beauty!"

"We're seriously, _so_ _proud _of you guys." Rhuben added her hands clasped together in front of her. "I don't think we could have seen a better game if it was done by professionals." She flipped her hair over her shoulders and nodded. "Really, great job."

"I _told_ you that you were going to do great," Riley added. She gave Kendall a high-five. He was surprised for a moment, but happy nonetheless. Due to hers and her siblings' past abuse, it was sometimes hard for them to be able to receive hugs or high-fives without flinching at the sudden movement. It happened every now and then, but they found that it was better if the Jacksons initiated it first. "And you did, you were nervous over nothing."

"And you were right," Kendall agreed. "Thanks for the help."

"What?" James held out his arms teasingly towards the girls. "You're not going to give me a hug for congratulations?"

Rhuben shied away from him. "Uh, no you're sweaty." She replied, flipping her hair over her shoulders. "After a concert, that's fine, but after playing a game, no thank you."

"I'm sorry," Kendall placed a finger to his chin. "I was under the impression that girls _loved_ it when guys were covered in sweat." He grinned and high-fived Carlos, Logan, James, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney as they laughed.

"Oh yeah, Hockey-Head," Riley said sarcastically. "I love you _so much_ when you're covered in sweat, really, it's such a turn-on." She then mimicked him by giving the girls and over-the-top high-five, causing everyone to laugh,

"Do you want to see our signs?" Sydney asked, holding up the cardboard poster that he was holding onto. He wiggled it around, showing off the writing: James is our Diamond in the rough. "I made this one!"

"We'll check it out later at the party when we have the time," Logan said with a warm smile.

"Oh, Kendall, we didn't tell you," Stephanie gave Kendall a cheesy smile as she held out a piece of paper to him. "A girl behind us wanted you to have her phone number, so you two could go out on a date." Kendall took it and held it in his fist. "You should go; you haven't been on a date in forever."

Kendall winced slightly. He and Jo were friends, that was true, but it was awkward between them for a while when they had broken up and she would call or video chat to see how he was doing. They had broken up for a reason, they started to fight a lot before she left, and he knew that she hoped things would go back to normal, but it hadn't. It took a while for them to get back to where they were about being friends, though there was still an air of tension around them from time to time.

"Sorry," Kendall gave an apologetic shrug. "Dating people that I'm not friends with first isn't really my thing." He jumped as James reached over and grabbed onto the paper, quickly turning to punch it into his phone.

"You're hopelessly romantic." Lizzie said, reassuring him.

"Or just plain hopeless." Katie cracked.

"It's cute," Camille insisted.

"Thanks for that," Logan rolled his eyes. "Now his ego is going to get even bigger with that compliment." He then rubbed his hands together. "Who's ready to go back to the apartment and have some fun at our victory party?"

"How'd you know it was a victory party?" Patrick asked. He gave a teasing smile. "It could be a 'sorry-you-lost-but-we're-throwing-a-party-for-you-anyway-party." He pointed out.

"Yeah, but we never lose." James clapped him on the shoulder and led the others to go to the parking lot. Carlos started to follow, but then noticed that Rhuben was walking slower than the others, not looking as excited as the others were.

He turned and jumped right into Rhuben's path, causing her to blink rapidly and then look at him strangely. Carlos beamed at her, holding his arms out for a hug, then slowly lowered his arms when she didn't move. "What's wrong?" Carlos asked, his smile wilting when he noticed that Rhuben hadn't smiled. "You looked annoyed. We just won our game, aren't you excited?"

"I _am_ annoyed," she replied with a short sigh. "But I _am _happy for you guys," she shook her head. "It's nothing," she said finally. "Just a decision that Ronan made earlier today that I don't necessarily agree with. I can't stop thinking about it, as pathetic as that is."

"What's up?" Carlos asked, widening his eyes a little.

Rhuben hesitated a moment before speaking. "Well, now that Riles and I are older and he knows that there's a good chance that we might take a break with our band to pursue college or whatever," she waved a hand. "We haven't decided yet," she explained quickly. "He wants me to learn how to play the guitar."

Carlos wasn't sure how the two went together and his face showed it. "So?" he asked.

Rhuben let out a patient sigh. "_So_, he wants me and Riles, for now and the next CD when we come off our break, I guess, to be the center focus of the band. And he wants me to learn how to play the guitar so we can use some of our shows from now until then to get used to it. For whatever reason, the kids agree with it. And they all know that the two of us HATE to be the center of attention or having a lot of attention on us at all!" She slapped her hands down to her sides. "That's why our band is so good, we don't have one front man, and we have five!" She crossed her arms over her chest. "Plus, he wants us to try and become role models, which is a load of crap."

"Why?"

"Why would someone want a bunch of kids who lied about their abuse for years as a role model?" She scratched the side of her neck. "I'm not saying that Ronan's wrong, because when he says he knows what he's talking about, he knows what he's talking about and I have to give him mad respect for that. But it was like when Riles and I had to change our dance style a little from power moves to more...girlish ones. It bothered me at first, since I don't believe in dancing a certain way to be considered...appealing." She paused for a moment. "But now I like it fine, but we had so many people calling us 'fake' when that happened, what if they do it now?"

"Rhubes," Carlos grabbed onto her hands and lightly rocked them back and forth. "If there was any word to describe you or your brothers and sister, 'fake' would be the last one I would use. You guys are probably the most down to earth and caring people I've ever met.' He then looked thoughtful. "You also lie a lot, you don't like authority, you do some bad things, you talk back-"

"I get the point." Rhuben interrupted him.

"Right," Carlos nodded. "But you're not fake. And if you have fans that'll leave you for changing the image of your band a little, then they weren't fans to begin with." He placed on of his hands on his chest. "But I'm your fan _and_ your friend and I'll support you no matter what. Now," he held out his arm. "Are you ready to party?"

"Try and stop me," Rhuben laughed, hooking her arm through his. "Thanks CareBear."

"You're welcome, Rhubes."

* * *

As the victory party winded down and the guests started to go home, Kendall, Logan, James, Carlos, Katie, Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney were all gathered on the orange couch or sitting on the floor, talking quietly. The party had lasted for about five hours after the game had ended and it was getting very close to midnight. Camille and Stephanie had left earlier, after congratulating the boys on their win again. Dak, WayneWayne, and Lizzie had stopped by for a few hours, getting the guys to tell them about the game all over again. Even the Jennifers and the other inhabitants of the PalmWoods came by. Bitters arrived at one point, but rather than enjoying the party, he seemed to be more preoccupied with the free food that was there, taking more than half of it with him when the left.

Kendall smiled as he looked around the apartment. They had won the game and now they were just hanging out at the crib with their best friends, life couldn't get any better than that. He looked over at Riley, who was sitting next to and talking animatedly to Carlos; suddenly remembering the bet. They had agreed that after the hockey game they were going to start, and they needed to lay down some ground rules, so why not start then.

Kendall got to his feet and walked to the room that he and Logan shared. He went over to his desk and grabbed a notebook and flipped through it, looking for an empty page to use. Guilt filled his body when he realized that there was some homework that he had neglected to do. Logan had already told him that he wasn't going to help him catch up, and his mother was already starting to get on his case about his grades and he promised that he was going to pull them up. But with the excitement of that weekend and working on their band…he had forgotten about it.

That's what he was going to tell her anyway.

Kendall returned to the living room and sat down on the couch, putting the paper and pencil on the table before writing a header on the paper for their bet. "So, we need to finalize the rules of our bet." He said, getting the other's attention. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous when he watched Carlos make Riley laugh.

_She doesn't laugh at my jokes like that._

"Can't this wait until tomorrow?" Katie asked, her hands on her knees, her legs crossed. "I mean, you guys just won your hockey game."

"Yeah, and I'm going to win this too." Kendall insisted. "So it's good that we figure this out now."

"And you say that you _don't_ have an ego when you win something?" James asked. He rolled his eyes and moved his finger around his head in the same fashion, causing Carlos and the Jacksons to burst out laughing. Carlos laughed the loudest. "Aren't you tired?"

"Not tired enough to lose, obviously." Riley sighed and leaned over, grabbing the pen from Kendall's hand.

"Alright, so, how long do we have for the bet to run?" Kendall asked.

Riley thought for a moment, tapping her pen against her hand. "A couple of months?" She suggested. "I mean, why draw it out so long?"

Kendall's eyebrows rose in disbelief. "That's almost no time."

"But that could work as an advantage or a disadvantage to both of you," James pointed out.

Kendall ignored James as he studied Riley's face, looking for a sign that she was about to laugh or smile. To show him that she was only kidding. "Come on, I know you're not serious."

"You see, one of your many problems, Hockey-Head," Riley turned her pen around and pointed it at him. "Is that you think you know me far better than you actually do. Because, as it happens," she stared hard at him, the direct eye-contract causing him to look away. "I'm being entirely serious."

"Ok, fine." Kendall grumbled and then watched as she wrote it down. "But, what is the ultimate prize going to be?" He rubbed his hands together. "It has to be good if we're going to be working on it for this long."

"Good point," Riley agreed in a murmur. She tilted her head to the side, tapping her cheek with the pen.

Kendall quickly looked away; he couldn't contain the flutters in his stomach. Sometimes all she had to do was tilt her head in a certain way and he was gone.

An evil grin slowly slid onto Riley's face. "I got an idea."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Kendall asked, calming himself down with a deep breath. "What is it?"

"The loser has to be other person's slave for a week," Riley said as casually as if she was saying that the wind was blowing outside. "That means they have to do the other person's chores, they have to fetch them whatever they want, when they want it," she held up her hands. "Within reason of course, they have to carry the other person's bag when they need it…and clean up after them."

"You might as well take off the last one," Noah commented as he shook his head. "Because you're really clean and Carlos always cleans up after Kendall."

"Carlitos, has anyone ever told you that you have a tendency to be _too_ nice?" Rhuben asked. She half-smiled when Carlos merely shrugged in reply.

"Basically, whoever loses is the other person's slave, and they have to do whatever the other person says for a week." Noah's eyes scanned the list in front of them. "I think that's everything."

"Is it possible that we can add in there, if there's something going on with a friend, or a family member, or something really important with our bands gets in the way, we can postpone the bet for that reason?" Kendall asked, resting his chin in his hands. "I mean, say, Mom needs my help with something or something is wrong with Katie." He suggested. "Or something is up with our friends. I'd like to be able to help them with that."

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine." Riley said quickly. Kendall noticed the change in her demeanor, but didn't call her out on it. "I think that's everything." She leaned forward and signed her name at the bottom before turning the paper around for Kendall to sign.

"Now you guys need to sign it," Kendall said as he picked up the pen and paper and handed it to Carlos, who looked bewildered.

"Why do we have to sign it?" He asked his eyes growing wide with panic. "Are we singing our lives away to be slaves too?"

"No," Logan laughed. "What they mean is that we're acting as witnesses," he explained patiently. "If there are any problems with a potential breaking of the rules, then we, as witnesses, have to figure out whether or not a punishment is justifiable."

"Exactly," Rhuben agreed. "And because part of the whole bet is that we can help whomever we want, technically we're all in on the bet too." She lightly shook her head. "I think this whole thing is stupid, just for the record." She added.

"No problem," James took the paper and pen from Carlos and started to scribble his name down. "I'm still hoping that you win, Riles, because if you do, it should knock Kendall down a peg when it comes to him being such a winning freak."

"Thanks James," Kendall grabbed onto James's shoulder and squeezed tightly. "Thanks a lot."

"So you guys said that you were going to officially start this after the hockey game," Patrick said with an eager smile on his face as he took the pen and paper and quickly scribbled his name illegibly, much like he would do if he was signing an autograph. "What's your first lesson going to be?"

"I'm curious to know that, myself." Logan agreed, resting his elbows on his knees, watching to make sure that everyone signed the rules.

"Ugh," Rhuben rolled her eyes. "We told you before, there's not anything that you can actually teach about it. So there's really no 'first thing' and 'last thing' that you need to know." She used air-quotes around the words. She grinned evilly. "But what I _can_ tell you is, no matter who loses, I'm going to enjoy watching them being the other person's slave."

Riley smirked and nodded in agreement to her sister's statement before her eyes wandered over to Kendall. She wondered how it was possible that of all of the boyfriends that she had, or guys that she was interested in, it was her best friend that was the only one that managed to give her butterflies.

* * *

**A/N: **Whew, long chapter. Starting next chapter it's going to go back and forth from Kendall's POV to Riley's POV. Not sure if there's really going to be a side-plot or not, I think the story would be better without one, honestly. But I'm thinking of doing a Racy side-plot if not little scenes of them throughout the story.

And so you all know, I have this planned on being 20 chapters if not shorter due to chapter length, so 20 at the most. I hope you guys like it so far.

I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	3. You called me up

**.:Chapter 03:.**

_Take a first lesson and see how it feels. Is it good? Is it bad? Maybe you should also mix in a secret meeting that really shakes up your world. How does it feel now? Take that feeling and heat it up to 150 degrees Fahrenheit _

* * *

Kendall frowned at the envelope that lay on the bed across from him. He knew that it was from his father, just by looking at the handwriting. Handwriting that was once so sloppy that it was comical was now mocking him as he stared at it. He had just come out of the shower when he noticed the envelope that was sitting on his bed. Apparently one of the guys had gotten the mail or else his mother would have recognized the handwriting and had gotten rid of it or Katie would continue to pester Kendal about who it was from.

But that wasn't what was bothering him, oh no, it was the fact that he was surprised that his father knew where he was, to give him mail. Even his fans didn't know what address to send fan-mail to. It sort of scared him and he didn't know what to do about it. He hadn't seen his father since the trial where he was representing the Jacksons' Dad in the abuse case. When he lost, he and Kendall had shared a look, but he hadn't seen him since then, and that was two years ago.

Kendall sighed and rubbed his chin. He crossed his legs. He uncrossed his legs. He ran his hands over his face. He ran his hands through his hair. He tapped his feet against the ground, his sighs accompanying his movements.

Finally, he got up and walked over to the envelope, stared at it for a moment, and then grabbed it in his hand. He seemed to weigh it in his hand before opening the back and pulling out the note.

"I know that we haven't talked much in the past, but I want to change that." Kendall read out loud and snorted a little before he continued. "I'll understand if you don't want to meet with me. But I think we have a lot to talk about. Have a great day and I hope we get in touch soon."

Kendall stared at the card for a few seconds and then frisbeed it to the side. He didn't bother to retrieve it. "Yeah right, dad." He muttered under his breath. Kendall rolled his shoulders, cracked his knuckles before he walked out into the main area of the suite. Logan and Carlos were sitting on the couch, watching a past episode of _The Walking Dead_ on Netflix, and James was sitting at the kitchen table on his laptop.

"Looking for more Cuda products that aren't released in the US?" Kendall asked as he walked over to James. He sat down in the chair across from him and grabbed an apple out of the bowl that was sitting in the middle of the table.

"Yyep," James replied. "There's this one from Brazil that I really want to try, it's a body spray and I'm having a _little_ bit of trouble getting it." He looked up and studied Kendall's face. "Dude, is something wrong? You look mad."

"No, I'm fine." Kendall shrugged before taking a bite of his apple. "Why?"

"I just thought that you would still be a bit…upset about the hockey game." James closed the lid to his laptop. "I mean, since for most of the game you weren't playing your best, all of us could see it. I mean, during half time, you threw your helmet against a locker so hard that you actually dented it."

Kendall's eyebrows furrowed together as he continued to slowly chew his apple. "I wasn't upset," he said finally. "Just…nervous I guess." Even he looked slightly frustrated when he said it. James could practically feel his frustration radiating off of his body.

James moved his laptop to the side before resting his arms on the table lowering his voice. "You don't get nervous before hockey games. I've known you long enough to know that you have so much confidence in yourself when it comes to playing the game that you fuel the rest of us with it."

"Ok." Kendall spun his partially eaten apple around in his hand. "I wasn't nervous about the game. I was nervous of the fact that Riles was there." James looked confused. "I know, it hasn't happened before. But…I don't know, I guess I just wanted to impress her."

"That's understandable," James agreed. "That's the point of being a guy. You try to impress the girl that you like, hoping that they notice. We're kind of like peacocks that way."

"Peacocks?" Kendall repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"I know what I'm talking about when it comes to this." James laughed along with Kendall. "Logan's love science is full of crap; I'm talking about the real world here. Just to be sure, you're afraid of telling her how you feel because you think she'll laugh at you?"

"Pretty much," Kendall rolled his eyes. "And…because she makes me-"

"Nervous," James said. "You already said that."

"It's just so stupid though," Kendall scowled. "You and I are the ones that can talk to girls with no problems. I could talk to Jo with no problem; I could talk to girls back home, no problem. If it wasn't for the fact that I felt so comfortable around Riles that it didn't bother me half the time, I hate how nervous I am around her and it's really starting to bug me."

"It's quite simple, really." James gave Kendall a serious look. "You weren't nervous with Jo because you knew how she felt about you. Even when she was lying and saying that she had a boyfriend, you knew that she liked you. Girls back home, for whatever fathomable reason, they liked you, too."

Kendall gave James a look. "I'm not exactly ugly." He said.

"Yeah, but I'm a lot better looking than you," James reminded. "So I have to boost my own self esteem." Kendall chuckled. "As I was saying, the girls back home liked you too. But you don't know about Riles, because she is very careful about keeping whatever she is feeling, hidden. And because you're afraid of ruining the friendship between you two, since that's really important to you." Kendall looked at James in wonder. "Hey, I can be smart when I need to be."

Kendall briefly closed his eyes as he shook his head. "I didn't mean to imply that you're dumb, James."

"It's all right," James raised a hand. "Some of us get smarts," he nodded over at Logan, who was still engrossed in the show with Carlos. "And the rest of us get the looks." He then gave a bright smile, causing Kendall to laugh again.

"So if you're so smart about all of this," Kendall gave him a challenging look. "How would _you_ work from being best friends with a girl to dating her?"

James thought for a moment. "Well, I probably wouldn't make a bet with her," he said after a moment. Kendall smiled. "Honestly, I don't know how I would do it. Most guys that try end up being friend zoned and are stuck there. So what you're doing might work." He shrugged. "So, I saw that you got a letter today who was it from?"

Kendall took another bite of his apple. "It was junk mail." He said.

* * *

"Wow, these houses are _really_ big," Katie commented, pressing her face against the window. "They're lucky that they get to live out here." She then turned and smacked Kendall on the arm, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Ow!" Kendall jumped and looked down at his arm as it started to turn red. He glared at Katie as he rubbed his arm before exchanging glances with Logan, who was on his other side. Logan shrugged in reply, looking amused. Kendall then turned back to Katie. "What'd you do that for?" He demanded.

"If it wasn't for you guys, we'd still be living out in Bel-Air!" Katie accused him.

_And I thought that Dad was fickle. _Kendall rolled his eyes. "Katie, I don't know if you remember, but our neighbors were freaking robots!"

"I know, they needed the lawns to be a specific way, we couldn't play hockey, and the only good thing about it was the pool." James said from the front passenger seat of the van. He then sighed wistfully, shaking his head. "That pool makes the PalmWoods pool look like a bathtub."

"Just be glad you didn't get hit in the face with every door in that house," Mrs. Knight said, shaking her head. "A house that was supposed to make thing easier for you nearly killed me. I was glad when we finally got out of there." She lifted her hand from the steering wheel and brought it up to her forehead, as if she could still feel herself getting hit over and over again.

Kendall smiled a little and looked out at the houses. Katie was right, they were big, but not big like the mega famous movie stars that had so much space they could fit eight families in there. But it was big enough for their friends. It was the first time that they were all going to see the Jacksons' new house since they bought it, and he was happy to help them move in, but at the same time, it just made him wonder how long it was going to be until they saw the same amount of success and prosperity that they had. Sure, he understood that they had been in their band for almost ten years at that point, or at least had been in the music industry that long and it just made him worry that their popularity was going to fall soon.

He wasn't going to kid himself into thinking that Big Time Rush was going to last forever, pop music and boy bands had a shelf life before it came back again. He just hoped that they would be able to ride their popularity to its peak and hope that their fans, their rushers, would stay with them even if they went on the decline.

_I wonder if Dad lives anywhere around here. _Kendall quickly shot the thought out of his head, wondering why he allowed himself to even think it in the first place.

"Oh, we're here!" Mrs. Knight beeped the horn to the van twice before pulling into the long driveway.

Sydney, who was standing on the front lawn, holding onto a weed whacker, looked up when he heard the horn and then smiled and waved, setting the lawn instrument down. He then turned and hurried through the open garage door. When he came back a few seconds later, his brothers and sisters were following him outside. Ronan strolled causally along behind them. Sydney then greeted each of their friends with a hug and a bright smile before allowing his brothers and sisters space to do the same.

"You have any trouble finding the place?" Ronan asked, wiping his hands off on a dishtowel.

"No, your directions were pretty straight forward, besides, it'd be hard to miss a house like this." Mrs. Knight put a hand up to her eyes, shielding them from the sun. Her eyes moved over the exterior. "Great place. You have good taste."

"So I've been told," Ronan said. "_Many _times."

"Mostly when he's on a date," Patrick remarked.

Ronan looked embarrassed and reached around Patrick's head, moving his hand over his son's mouth. From the way that his cheeks bulged up behind Ronan's hand, the others could tell that Patrick was still smiling from his little quip. "Ignore him, I do." He said and then let out a light laugh as Mrs. Knight smiled and nodded. "So, do you want a tour of the place? I have to apologize; it's not very clean yet."

"He's been working us like dogs," Sydney said, widening his eyes. "We have to get the place like, spotless clean, and the bloke won't tell us why." He crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head back to look at Ronan.

"Well," Ronan hesitated for a second. "It's for good news and bad news. The good news part of it, I can't tell you."

"So what's the bad news?" Katie asked, looking interested.

"That depends on your definition of bad news," Ronan said slowly, dropping his arm off of Patrick's shoulders and removing his hand from his mouth. He looked over at his kids before his rested on Mrs. Knight's. He gave a funny smile. "My parents are coming for dinner tonight." Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney all groaned loudly, rolling their eyes. "Oh come on, they're not that bad."

Kendall exchanged an amused glance with Carlos, Logan, and James. They had never personally met Ronan's parents, but from the way that the Jacksons talked about them, or his mother in particular, it was as obvious as the sky was blue that they didn't like her much. It was also apparent from their stories that she had the same sense of dislike towards them.

"Yes, Ronan, they're that bad." Riley crossed her arms over her chest before pointing a finger over at her father. "Even _you_ know that they're that bad."

"Well, not your dad," Noah disagreed. He wrinkled his nose. "Your dad is cool." He shook his head as he sucked in a sharp breath. "But your mom is…critical."

"Mean," Sydney jumped in.

"Annoying," Patrick agreed.

"Judgmental," Riley added. She didn't have to look at Kendall to notice the amused look on his face. "Shut up, Hockey-Head."

"Hell, why sugar coat it?" Rhuben shrugged and then gave a smug smile as she reached out a hand and patted Ronan's arm. "Your mom's a bitch!"

"Rhu!" Ronan warned.

"What?" Rhuben widened her eyes innocently. "You know that she's a bitch. Everyone knows she's a bitch. All she does is sit around and judge us." She moved her hands to her chest and raised an eyebrow. "Do you know what she keeps saying about us?"

Ronan pretended to think about it. "That you're psychotic, hyper-active children, with little to no respect for authority, that likes to have fun even if it means breaking the rules and breaking things that aren't yours?" He then crossed his arms over his own chest and gave a mock shrug. "I'd say she's about right."

"Nice Ronan, real nice." Riley made the 'a-ok' sign with her thumb and index finger before shaking her head. "You can go ahead and give Mama Knight the tour or whatever." She then turned back to the guys. "You know, you boys could have backed us up. You've heard the stories that we tell."

"If memory serves correctly, Landy, you don't always tell the truth," Logan pointed out.

"When it comes to Ronan's mom, we tell nothing _but_ the truth," Patrick shook his head. "You'll see at dinner, yeah, but don't say we didn't warn ya." He then held out his arms and slapped them down to his sides. "So what do you think? We have most of the stuff put up, just a couple more boxes to go." He reached out a bare foot and kicked the box that was nearest to him.

"Looks even better than the house that we had in Bel-Air," Carlos said honestly. He then raised a finger as he looked his friends over. "The doors aren't automatic are they?"

"No," Rhuben replied slowly, looking at her brothers and sister. They all shrugged in reply.

"Good, then Mama Knight's gonna like it!" Carlos continued.

"That's not all that she's gonna like," Sydney muttered under his breath and then smiled innocently when his siblings burst out laughing. "Anyway," he looked up at Kendall. "I'm sure you're dying to know what the first part about being a bad boy is."

Kendall silently nodded. He didn't know how to feel really, part of him felt guilty, because the only reason he made the bet was to try and find a way to tell Riley how he felt about her. Basically to become more confident about it, he hadn't admitted that to anyone; he even told his mom about it, only to reassure her that no one's hard work was going to be compromised. She just gave him a look and said that she would help him with whatever problem he could potentially run into and that was it. James was actually excited to see what was going to happen, not only because he wanted Kendall to lose, as he had expressed numerous times, but because he thought that it would be a good way to see how a bad boy acted, just in case he needed the knowledge for an upcoming film role. Another part of Kendall felt excited himself, he knew that the main reason that his friends acted the way they did was because of the fact that they had been abused for so long and the anger and tragedy of the whole situation manifested itself into the way they acted. Plus it was also part of their image and he thought that it looked like fun; they got massive amounts of respect when they acted that way, but at the same time, they were normal teenagers that liked to have fun so it was interesting to see how they could continuously go back and forth.

"All right, then I won't let you wait for it." Riley thought for a moment. "Lesson number one is 'Be a Man'."

"Be a Man" Logan repeated. His right eye narrowed as he looked at her skeptically. "That can't be the first rule."

"No, it makes sense, Logie-Bear," Rhuben said, nodding. "You have your own time, your own dreams, and your own plans, and you need stick to that. If you don't like something, then don't like it. You can't change yourself because someone doesn't like it. Most guys try to impress so hard, trying to get girls to like them that they forget to be themselves. Why would a girl want to be with a guy who doesn't even have his own identity?"

"For example," Noah spoke up. "When you guys first got here, you had the one collective identity of being four hockey players from Minnesota. Then you started your band and you got the specific personas for each of you. The hot one," he motioned to James. "The smart one," he looked at Logan. "The cute one," he nodded at Carlos. "And then Kendall is the leader or the mama's boy, which way you want to put it."

"Thanks," Kendall said sarcastically.

"Don't blame me, blame your fans." Noah held his hands up defensively. "That's where I got that info."

Kendall turned and glared at Katie, who was openly laughing at this point. "What?" She asked, wiping her tears away from her eyes. "I'm sorry Big Bro, but the fans kind of have a point." She shrugged sheepishly. "You _are_ kind of a mama's boy. You're completely _terrified_ of mom."

"There's nothing wrong about a son being afraid of his mother," James defended Kendall.

"Thanks dude," Kendall smiled.

"It is when you get upset over Gustavo breaking mom's tea cup." Katie started to count off on her fingers. "Wanting to find mom a date to the PalmWoods dance so while she chaperoned, she wouldn't bug you all night. Having to _beg_ her to let you guys mansion sit."

"Good times," Patrick gave an impish smile.

"You weren't even there!" Riley reminded him.

"Oh, no, staying at 2J and watching Katie try to trick her mom into thinking that she was sick was priceless." Patrick laughed and jumped back behind Noah when Katie abruptly stopped laughing and moved to hit him on the arm.

"Back to the subject at hand," Sydney broke in. "Gustavo and Kelly considered you to be the bad boy, for the reason that the other guys couldn't do it and…probably because Gustavo couldn't stand you and you talk back so much."

"But in some cases, you have shown it." Riley pushed her hair away from her face. "It's not always about getting the most girls or being the toughest or even the best looking. It's all about creating and maintaining a strong sense of character**.** You accept your flaws and imperfections and focus on being better in life and with your guys' band. No one is perfect, and some people won't like you, it's simple as that. This is the most important step and concept to understand and that's why it's the first one."

"It's also about you knowing when to take responsibilities for your actions and doing things that you don't want to do," Patrick concluded.

"So do what you want with that little piece of info," Riley waved a hand as the Jacksons moved to grab some other boxes that were sitting in the driveway. "I'm just saying you still have a chance to back out now before you become my slave for a week."

"That's not going to happen." Kendall said with an overconfident smile as he matched her stride and waked with her up the driveway. "Cause I plan on making sure I win."

Riley turned and looked at him, an unrecognizable look on her face. "That sounded like a threat." She commented.

"More like a confident statement," Kendall corrected her.

"Uh-huh," Riley used one hand to grab onto the back of Patrick's shirt as he moved by her, talking animatedly to James about hair mousse. "Take this inside? I forgot that Ronan asked me to water the plants." Patrick nodded and took the box before going back into his conversation with James.

Kendall hesitated as he watched the others follow their friends into the house, taking boxes as they went. He wanted to check out the house, who wouldn't? But he wanted to keep talking to her too. Riley made the decision for him as she continued speaking.

"I'm just saying, you have so many people that follow you…you wouldn't want them to start dressing like you would ya?" She shook her head as she grabbed the hose and turned on the water, starting to spray the plants that lined the front walk. "I've had enough of that."

"It's the girl gene." Kendal l shrugged.

"Not funny." Riley continued to look at the plants, although Kendall could immediately tell that she understood what he was getting at. "You seem kind of odd today, not more so than usual, but something's off about you."

"You couldn't go one second without making fun could you?" Kendall asked as he laughed.

Riley brushed her cheek with her shoulder. "It's part of my charm," she replied.

"You been rolling in the mud today?" Kendall's tone teased as he looked her over. The bottoms of her shorts down to the tips of her feet were covered in mud.

"Yeah, well, you don't look so hot yourself, Eyebrows." She returned, taking in his clothing, her upper lip curling.

"I never said you didn't look hot, just dirty." Kendall mentally winced after the words came out of his mouth. _Nice going, Kendall. That was probably the stupidest thing that you could have ever said. _He risked a glance over at Riley, and was relieved when it seemed that she didn't notice what he had just said.

"What a line," Riley mumbled. She frowned as she stood up, noticing the water pressure had run low. Turning the hose in her hand, she looked down the line of the hose and then pulled lightly, tugging away a knot.

Kendall jumped back as a stream of water hit him in the chest. "Hey!" He shivered before reaching up to wring out his shirt. "You did on that on purpose!" He tried to sound annoyed, although there was a smile on his face.

Riley twisted her wrist so the water hit the ground. "I swear, I didn't mean to do that."

"Oh yeah." Kendall darted forward and snatched the hose out from her fingers. His smile morphed into an evil grin as he slowly walked towards her, holding up the hose and pointing it at her. "Then I didn't mean to do this." He said in a love voice. He could practically watch the amusement and then annoyance roll through her eyes like a slot machine before it stopped on warning.

"Don't do it." She warned firmly.

Kendall smirked, quickening his steps. He was having fun with this now. It was one of the many times where he could see that the roles in their friendship had flipped. When they had first admitted that they found each other their best friend, over the summer when he was on tour, he found it a bit weird that the two of them had dominant personalities that meshed together very well. But then he found that it was easy because of the fact that they had passionate personalities and weren't afraid to voice their opinions. Sure, there were times where they wanted to hang out and argued about who got to decide what to do, but it was refreshing.

"Not so fun now, is it?" He taunted.

Riley held her hands up, palms out. She smiled a little. "Stop it."

Kendall slowly started to bring the hose up, inching the arch of water closer towards her. "Are you laughing at me?" He asked, raising his eyebrow.

Riley shook her head, her lips betraying her. Her body shook with suppressed laughter. Kendall's smirk widened and he lifted the hose, aiming the spray of water at her shirt; he laughed when he hit her dead on. Involuntarily, a squeal tore through Riley's throat. The spray ended as soon as it began. "I can't believe you did that!" She cried and reached for the hose, to take it back.

Kendall picked her up, tossing her over his shoulder like weightless baggage.

"Put me down, Hockey-Head!" Riley smacked him on the butt.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Kendall bent his knees until her feet touched the ground, flushing when he turned to see Ronan looking at the two of them, a funny look on his face. Riley righted herself, swinging her loose hair over her head. She then smacked Kendall in the stomach for good measure. Her hand hurt after hitting him; his stomach was as hard as a plank of wood. Kendall barely felt him hit her; he continued to study the look on his face, wondering what was wrong.

"Hey Ronan," She greeted her father cheerfully. "What's up?"

"My publicist called," Ronan said as he walked towards them. "There's something that you need to see." He pulled out his iPhone and handed it to his daughter. "Both of you." He added.

Kendall moved to Riley's side and looked down at the phone. His eyes widened when he saw the webpage that Ronan was talking about. On the front was a picture of the two of them that had been taken for a poster for Pop Tiger back when BTR had first gotten to LA and they had gone to NYC to promote their stuff at Planet Hollywood. The header read 'Riley Jacksons' love life just got a big time rush'.

Kendall snorted at the title.

"My thoughts exactly," Riley mumbled. "Blah, blah, blah. Normal stuff, normal stuff." She read, scrolling down the page. "Ah, apparently I declared my love for you at your guys' hockey game and someone overhead it. Oh and listen to this." She cleared her throat and read aloud. "'Jackson said she met Kendall when he and his band mates moved to LA to start a band of their own. 'Gustavo could tell that he had a fire in him from day one, and then I guess he used that fire to melt my heart.'" Riley snorted, keeping her eyes on the computer screen.

Kendall's lip quirked. "I had no idea," he said.

"Dream on." Riley went back to the article. "Blah, blah, blah, just the usual crap." She shrugged as she stood up. "Actually, the one that said that Carlos and Rhu were together is more entertaining that this one." She handed her phone back to her dad. "So what? We see stuff like this all the time, even more so now that everyone knows that our bands are best friends."

"I just wanted to let you know what was going on," Ronan said calmly. "Just so when you go to your interview you'd be prepared to have a question be asked about your relationship or whatever."

"They always do," Riley reminded him. "They ask about _yours_ too."

"Yeah, but I'm not one of two girls who's best friends are guys." Ronan said, his tone turning serious. Kendall studied him then looked over at Riley, noticing that she seemed to really be paying attention at that moment. "You already get enough of that sort of news back in Australia; you're probably going to have to deal with it now, its better than you know ahead of time."

"Thanks," Riley nodded before looping her arm around her father's waist and giving him a hug.

"You're welcome." Ronan hugged her back. "You might want to get washed up though; my parents are going to be here soon."

Kendall waited for Ronan to go back into the house before he turned to Riley, who went to turn off the hose that had still been running, before he spoke up. He had expected one of them to explain what was going on. "What interview?" He asked.

"It's for _Revolver_ magazine," Riley explained, coiling up the hose around her arm. "Rhu and I got the cover and an inside spread and Pat, No, and Syd got the same, but for _Blender."_

"Wow! Congratulations!" Kendall then frowned. "But, you don't seem so excited about it."

"Nervous, really," Riley admitted after a minute. "Cause you never know what kinds of questions they're going to ask now that they know about our abuse and everything. We know that's the main reason that we got the interviews, but we'd also like it to focus on what we do best, ya know?" She sighed. "Plus, it might bring back some bad memories or something. I don't know."

"Oh." Kendall scratched his arm. He looked down when his hand moved over the leather bracelet that he was wearing. He had it since he was a kid; he believed that it gave him good luck, so much so that he had never taken it off. He started to untie it with his fingers before he moved his arm up to his mouth and grasped the knot in his teeth.

"What are you doing?" Riley was looking at him funny.

Kendall finished loosening the knot and then untied it with his right hand. "Take this," he grabbed her right arm and started to tie the bracelet around her wrist. "It's my good luck charm. I wear it all the time, maybe it'll help you." He tied it tightly. "There." He felt her tense under his hands and then locked eyes with her, having to look away after a second. He could never take her direct eye contact too long. "What?"

"…Nothing." Riley said after a minute. She lightly twirled the end of her left pigtail around her finger and then flushed. "You're a great friend, you know that?"

"I know." Kendall tried hard to keep the disappointment that rushed through his body off of his face. He had been friend zoned again. But he wasn't going to give up just yet; he knew that there was something there between them.

Riley held out her fist and the two did their handshake before they went into the house, Riley being careful to close the garage door. "I'm apologizing in advance for when you get inside." She said as she opened the door to the garage and allowed Kendall to go ahead of her before they entered the house via the kitchen.

"Why?" Kendall asked, confused. He suddenly let out a yelp as something landed on his shoulder, lightly pricking him. Before he could check to see what it was, a large Saint Bernard, and two Husky puppies jumped on his legs, nearly knocking him over.

"For that," Riley let out a sigh before grabbing onto the Saint Bernard's collar. "Rugby, down boy!" She commanded. Obediently, he flopped onto his stomach and the two huskys calmed down. She then reached up and picked up a black cat off of his shoulder. "People aren't furniture, Leo." She placed the cat on the ground. "Sorry, I should have mentioned that we brought our pets back with us this time."

"It's all right," Kendall checked his shirt for claw holes. "So...which one's yours."

"Rugby," Riley said, pointing over to the dog. She scratched him behind the ears before getting to her feet and following the sounds of screeching and hysterical laughter. "Wonder what's going on?"

The two walked into the living room and watched as Noah had Rhuben pinned down onto the couch. Rhuben was shrieking and laughing at the same time, trying to push her brother away from her. Noah was leaning over him, his mouth wide open and his tongue sticking out. A line of saliva was trailed off of tongue about to touch her cheek.

"NOAH, STOP IT!" Rhuben shouted, trying to push herself further into the couch.

"Go, Noah, go!" Carlos cheered, laughing just as hard as the others were.

"Riles!" Patrick called, getting her attention. "It's Team Triple Threat against Double Trouble!"

"Oh god." Riley turned and started to run out of the room as Patrick and Sydney chased after her, both of them laughing evilly as they went.

"Uh, what's going on?" Kendall asked, moving over onto the leather chair that his mother and sister were sitting in. He rested his arms on top of the chair and watching, laughing along with his friends as Rhuben managed to knock Noah off of her and jumped over the couch, before running away from him.

"It's a stupid thing that they came up with years ago to gross each other out," Ronan commented. He was sitting on the floor with a video camera in his hands and a digital camera sitting next to him on the floor. He turned the video camera over to the Knight family, who smiled and waved into it. "Patrick has a habit of licking the others on the side of the face when they're doing a concert."

"Isn't that unsanitary?" Logan made a face before shuddering. The same kind of shudder he had done years before when Gustavo had sat on him and pushed him into the couch when his mansion flooded. "I don't even want to _think_ about the kinds of diseases he could have gotten from that."

"From licking someone's _sweat_?" James asked, looking offended. He placed a hand on his chest and slowly shook his head. "Logie, Logie, Logie, you have _so _much to learn about your body." He held up a finger. "Sweat is a good thing. It's your body's natural way of cooling itself. _And_ girls love it when guy's sweat, it makes us look more attractive." He flexed his muscles to prove his point.

"Like I was saying," Ronan said, lightly shaking his head. "They had taken Patrick's 'gimmick' of licking people that they made a gross-out game with it." He laughed. "You basically torture the person with the idea of them getting their spit on their face. And you wonder why I call them psychotic."

"It's just so good to see them so lively," Mrs. Knight commented with a warm smile as she watched them take another lap around the room. This time, Rhuben had managed to get onto Noah's back and was holding her hands over his eyes and Riley was still trying to dodge Patrick and Sydney. "When they're at our apartment, they are so polite and are so helpful."

"Yeah, well, you don't really get to know someone until you _really_ get to know them." Ronan lowered the video camera and picked up the digital camera, turning it on. "But I know what you mean. Whenever they were around me, when I was first getting to know them, they were really open and outgoing. And when Robert came around, they would, in the best way to say it, clam up. After Robert went to jail, it took them a bit to get back to their lively selves. I think that's how they used to be, before their parents died. So happy and outgoing and lively, I just hope they're happy."

"You know they are, Ronan, they've been with you for a little over a year now," Carlos reassured him.

"Actually, I have you lot to thank for that," Ronan said, studying the back of the digital camera. "You all have helped them so much over the past two years. Just being there for them…thanks."

"Oh, it's no problem." Logan waved a hand. "They've helped us so much, it's the least we can do. Of course it's not a good enough way to thank them for it, but it's the best we can do for now." He sat up straight and looked over towards the front door as the sound of the doorbell went off.

The sound immediately caused the Jacksons to freeze.

"Great, they're here." Sydney's shoulders slumped as he stuck his hands in the pockets of his black shorts. In a move that James usually did, he swung his head to the side to move his fringe from in front of his face. "Not sure if you're aware of it, but you guys might be insulted."

"Ignore him," Ronan advised as he got to his feet. "He's exaggerating." He went over to the front door and pulled it open wide. "Mom! Dad! It's so good to see you!" He said as he gave his parents a hug before he let them into the house.

"Thank you for inviting us over for dinner," Mrs. McGuire replied with a cool smile, tightly holding onto her purse as she flicked her gaze over to the Jacksons as she and her husband entered the living room. "We brought a German Chocolate Cake for desert."

"Gross!" Patrick frowned. "No one eats German Chocolate-"Noah slapped a hand over Patrick's mouth as Ronan gave him a warning look.

"Which basically means that she wanted to barge her way in here and see what was going on." Mr. McGuire said with a smile that earned a sharp glare from his wife and small smiles from the Jacksons. He looked over at their friends. "So, who do we have here?"

"Oh, right," Ronan cleared his throat and then motioned to Mrs. Knight. "Kacy this is my Mom and Dad." He turned back to her. "Mom, Dad, this is my friend…" he hesitated for a moment."And co-worker, I guess, Kacy Knight."

"It's nice to meet you," Kacy said as she held out her hand.

"It's nice to meet you too, Kacy," Mr. McGuire grabbed her hand and shook it with gusto, smiling warmly at her. "Nice to meet you, too. I've heard so much about you and your kids." He placed his free hand on his chest. "Call me Bishop, if you want."

"Nice to meet you, Bishop." Kacy smiled warmly. She already liked him, she could tell that he was the kid of parent that wanted to be a grandparent so he could spoil his grandkids, tell them jokes, and have fun with them.

"And this is my wife, Marilyn." Mr. McGuire continued, gesturing to her.

"It's nice to meet you too, Marilyn." Kacy held her hand out to her.

Mrs. McGuire merely smiled at her, refusing to offer her hand. "You can call me Mrs. McGuire." She replied and then ignored her completely as she turned to her son.

"And this is her son and daughter, Kendall and Katie," the two smiled and nodded at the older couple. "And Kendall's best friends James Diamond, Logan Mitchell, and Carlos Garcia. The four of them are part of Big Time Rush, the band that I was telling you about. My kids used to have a contract under Gustavo to work with them."

"It's nice to meet you," Logan said with a smile and a nod.

"You too, sonny, you too." Mr. McGuire agreed. Mrs. McGuire merely raised an eyebrow as her eyes scanned over the group of friends.

"Oh, so you're the boys that my granddaughters are always hanging out with." She turned to Riley and Rhuben. "That explains everything. Now, I understand why you're constantly getting mistaken for a twelve year old boy."

Katie's eyes widened and Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James looked stunned at her statement. Riley and Rhuben merely looked at each other before Riley slowly started to smile. Ronan quickly noticed the expression on her face and tried to get her to be quiet, but she beat him to it.

"I'm sorry, why don't you try to alter your critical views instead of your grandchildren." She tilted her head to the side. "That way, we can still be up to your freakishly high standards and I don't have to eat like a pig."

"That could work," Mrs. McGuire shrugged. "You might be able to get a self-respecting boyfriend that way. Most of the time you just have to put food in their mouths and they're happy. Not always, but at least from my experience."

"No doubt it's extensive," Rhuben quipped.

James snorted and put a hand over his mouth as he turned his snort into a loud cough. Carlos, Logan, Kendall, and Katie tried to hide their smiles, causing Mrs. Knight to give them looks of disapproval. Katie moved her hands in a 'who me' sort of way while she widened her eyes, trying not to laugh out loud. Patrick, Noah, and Sydney sucked their lips into their mouths and turned their faces away so it wasn't obvious that they were laughing.

Ronan turned his back on his parents and looked at his twin daughters with a stern look as he mouthed 'cool it'. He then let out a sigh as he turned back to his parents. Mr. McGuire sighed loudly, trying to clear the tension in the room. He clasped his hands together loudly before he rubbed them together. "So what's for dinner, Ronan? I'm starving."

"You're always hungry, Dad." Ronan replied. He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "It's just finished anyway. So if you've all washed your hands already, you can go take your places at the table that we have set up on the deck outside." He turned to Mrs. Knight. "D'you mind giving me a hand?"

"It's no problem at all." Mrs. Knight agreed as she got to her feet and followed him into the kitchen. Mr. McGuire followed them, talking to his son about a recipe that he had found about grilling steak online.

Noah walked over to his grandmother. "I'll show you where we're eating," He said politely and then widened his eyes, giving Patrick a look as he walked her through the kitchen. Katie laughed as the others followed him.

"Now do you see what we mean?" Rhuben asked under her breath as they went through the kitchen and out to the deck. The sun was starting to set, but they had lit tiki torches around the perimeter of the deck so that they could under some sort of candle light and not worry about bugs getting to them or their food.

"I thought that you were just lying for attention," Logan said.

"Please," Riley looked offended. "When do we lie?" She looked at Logan innocently as he stared hard at her. "I meant, when did we lie _today_?" She reiterated.

"You guys have color-coded dishes and silverware too?" Kendall asked as he glanced at the table. He moved to sit at the spot that was between Riley and Patrick. "Is that sort of pathetic to anyone else?" He asked in a joking tone.

"About as pathetic as your mom continually feeding you dinosaur shaped chicken," Patrick said, dropping down into his chair and pressing his bare feet against the side of the table, rocking back on his heels.

"Last I checked, you enjoyed them too." Katie teased, causing Patrick to blush.

"Hey," James grabbed Riley's and Rhuben's attention. "Don't listen to what she said. You don't look like you're twelve years old. You're both very Beautiful and I'm glad to call you my friends."

"Why do I have the funny feeling that you have some sort of hidden intention about that statement?" Riley teased.

"Hey, you," Mrs. McGuire waved a hand to get James's attention. "You have enough time to hit on them when you're old enough to get tanked. Can we eat please?"

Everyone sat down in their seats and waited for Ronan and Mrs. Knight to bring out their dinner. When everything had been set down, they waited for the Jacksons to say grace before they started into dinner. The only saving grace that they had was while they were eating, Mrs. McGuire basically only paid attention to her son. Bishop, on the other hand, asked the others questions about their interests, trying to get to know them. He seemed to take a special interest in Katie, impressed with the ways that she had been able to trick people out of their money. When dinner ended, they waited an hour before going for a walk around the neighborhood (as Sydney had explained that it was a sort of a tradition for them) before they went back to the house to eat dessert. When it was time to go, Kendall went over to the front door to get his shoes, finding Riley sitting on the stairs, petting her dog.

"Well," Kendall raised his eyebrows as he crossed his arms over his chest. "That was a really eventful dinner." He leaned back against the steps of the staircase that sat in the foyer, waiting for his mother so they could leave. "I don't think I've heard so many insults in a span of an hour before. Well," he shrugged. "Besides you from you." He added.

"Whatever." Riley rested her elbows on her knees, looking at her feet. She absentmindedly ran her hand over Rugby's head as he sat obediently in front of her.

Kendall peered at her. "You can't tell me that you actually believe everything that she's said about you."

"It's hard not to believe something if you hear it enough times," Riley explained. "Kind of like everything that went on with Robert. We went through that for, like, eight years, so it was hard to be able to break the shot self-esteem that we had. Though, I think that might have been Robert's plan. The more he put us down, the more brainwashed of sorts we became, so he was able to make sure that we were able to produce more hits. Which, in retrospect, may have been a good thing." She scratched her neck. "But, it's not like he knew any better, his father did the same thing to him so it was just passed down, I guess. I mean, that's not an excuse for what he did, but-"

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Kendall interrupted, sensing her discomfort. "It's just…I don't really get _why_ you would sit back and let her talk about you guys like that when you're quick to defend anyone talking about your friends."

He wasn't sure that she was going to respond as she was quiet for a long time, looking right ahead of her.

"Let me put it this way, not everyone is afraid of the dark, more people are afraid of what's in it." Riley clasped her hands together between her legs. "That being said…there's a reason we're called the DarkElements, apart from the family joke, and that's the same reason I didn't say anything."

Kendall wasn't surprised that she didn't actually answer his question. In her own annoying way, she never really answered his questions outright, she tried to get him to figure things out himself, especially when it came to getting advice on a problem that he was having.

"When you figure it out, it makes sense." She continued.

* * *

Kendall rested his chin in his hand as he looked at the card that was sitting in front of him. He thought about the lesson that the Jacksons had taught him earlier that day. _Be a man…sometimes you have to take responsibilities for your actions…something you have to do things that you don't want to do…_

He listened as James, Carlos, Katie, and Logan argued about something as they watched TV. The corner of his mouth turned up as he listened to them before he reached for his phone and started to punch in a few numbers that he had gotten out of the phone book.

"Yes, hello. I'm looking for….is Kevin Knight still there? Yes, I'll hold."

* * *

**A/N: **So the lessons start now. I wanted a chapter that showed the lighter side of Kendall's and Riley's friendship as well as the lighter side to the Jacksons when they're just hanging around at home and with Ronan.

Hmm, James, Logan, Carlos, and Katie don't have a big part in this story; they just come up every now and then. Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney have pretty big parts, especially when it shows them hanging out as a family. Camille, Stephanie, Dak, WayneWayne, Gustavo, Kelly, and Lizzie have small parts as well, but they appear too.

If you want an idea of the layout of DE's house in LA, it's pretty much the same as it is in Australia (seen in the story _Wait For Me)_, because that would be the easiest way to describe it instead of coming up with a whole new design for the house.

I hope that you guys liked this chapter, I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	4. And we talked 'til the morning

**.:Chapter 04:.**

_So you're still annoyed about the comments that were made about you. Ok, that's fine. That's understandable. Just take that feeling and chop it up, that way you can save some of it for later. Take a portion of that feeling and flambé it. Store the others in the freezer for later._

* * *

Riley let out a sigh as she turned away from the painting that was sitting on an easel in front of her. She twisted her mouth to the side as she wiped paint off of her fingers. She then picked up her paintbrush and water cup and gently carried them over to her desk before she set it down, reminding herself to clean them out in the morning. She then walked back over to the easel and threw a large cloth over the canvas before carefully picking it up and resting it against the wall. She then folded up the easel and quietly stashed it into her closet.

Riley went back over to her desk and grabbed one of the two medicine bottles that were sitting at the edge, by her bed. She twisted it in her hand studying it. There was a light knock at the door and Riley turned around, holding the medicine bottle behind her back as Ronan quietly opened the door, poking his head around to look into Rhuben's room. The lights were off and she could be heard breathing quietly.

"What are you still doing up, Ripcurl?" He asked in a low voice, entering the room.

"Is everyone else asleep?" Riley asked, gathering her hair up into a ponytail, quickly tying it with a few twists of her wrist.

"Yeah." Ronan nodded.

"Good." Riley smiled before addressing his question. "I was just getting some painting done, Ronan," Riley replied, pointing over to the canvas that she had just set down. There were three more sitting next to it. "I was working in my sketch book and then I got…_another_ idea for that project that…is really close to being due."

"Again?" Ronan's eyebrows rose. "That's the fourth one. You're not going to finish it in time if you keep starting a new one. At this point, you might as well do it in oil pastel or charcoal."

"I'll get it done, no worries," Riley reassured him.

"Are you sure?" Ronan asked skeptically.

"Positive." Riley nodded. "Trust me; I'm going to go aggro on this project…as soon as I decide on an idea." She put a hand to her forehead and stuck out her tongue, lightly laughing at herself.

"Well, even if you procrastinate, you and Rhu always do get your work done." Ronan crossed his arms over his chest. "I can't say the same for Patrick; honestly, I'm surprised that he gets any grades from how late he turns his stuff in."

"That's because unless it has to do with his sculpting something out of clay, he forgets where he puts it." Riley explained patiently. "Notice how any time they finish a homework assignment now, Noah holds on to it to be sure that they're turned in."

"I noticed." Ronan laughed. "In between looking at the twenty page long papers that Sydney writes, the advanced math tests for him that I have to grade, and trying to figure out what he's talking about in science…you three are the least of my worries."

Riley smiled.

"Are you going to be up much longer?" Ronan asked, looking concerned. "I know that you guys are used to not getting a lot of sleep, but you usually do stay up pretty late."

"No, I just need to check my e-mail and then I'm going to sleep." Riley shook her head and then gave Ronan a pleasant smile. "God knows your mom sent me and Rhu another e-mail with a news article about domestic violence, drugs, or self-harm." She gave Ronan a hard stare. "Last time she gave us a newsletter type thing, saying that we need to watch out for boyfriends because they all want to brag about being able to bag a virgin." Ronan's face adopted a look that showed that he was uncomfortable. "Her words, not mine, mate." Riley rolled her eyes. "It was almost as moving as your sex talk," She added in a teasing tone.

"Don't remind me." Now Ronan rolled his eyes. "But speaking of which-"Riley made a sound in the back of her throat and Ronan laughed. "Relax, it's not about that. It's about you and Kendall and this rumor thing." Riley looked confused. "Listen, you know that Kendall likes you-"

"You'd actually have to be completely blind not to notice that," Riley scoffed. "I mean, there are times where a guy has liked me and I hadn't noticed at first, but I'm not _that_ stupid."

"Quit cutting me off," Ronan said in a warning tone. Riley nodded. "Like I was saying, you know that Kendall likes you. And you like him too, so with this rumor going around, why don't you just take advantage of it and tell him how you feel?" Riley gave him a look. "I know that you have a lot of reasons why you won't, the biggest one being that you're afraid of opening yourself up to someone like that, but you care so much about other people that you deserve to have someone care about you, too."

Riley shrugged. "It doesn't matter as long as he doesn't know I like him. It keeps things easy." She scratched the side of her neck. "Besides, due to my past experiences, it's better if I keep my mouth hut about this and just screw the whole idea."

"He won't know until he figures out your actions," Ronan remarked. "I mean, you make fun of people in general, but you pay more attention to him when you're making fun, and you're more…_alive_ whenever you're around him." He looked towards the ceiling before giving Riley a smile. "Of course nothing can match your energy when you're around your brothers and sister."

"Of course." Riley gave a proud smile.

Ronan placed his hands on his hips. "But there's the fact that you do that smile that you always do whenever you like someone."

"I do not!" Riley blurted, a horrified look coming onto her face as she blushed.

"Yes you do," Ronan insisted. "It's that smile where you bite your lower lip at the same time. It's like; when Rocky likes someone she twists her purple strand around her finger." He looked amused. "I've been with you guys since you were nine and I've seen all of the guys you've dated, you'd think I'd be able to figure out how to know when you like someone by now."

Riley's whole face was red at that point, she was blushing so hard. Ronan was right; she really _did_ like Kendall that much, more so than she originally thought. She liked all of the guys more than she originally thought she would. At the beginning she only saw them as people that she worked with, she didn't think that they would become part of her family. Or more than that in Kendall's case. But she had dated a friend before and things got awkward whenever they were around each other now because they had dated and she had to leave to go to LA to start working on putting their CDs out for the American market. Though they knew that it would be hard to do a long distance relationship and have mutually agreed to break up, it still caused their friendship to suffer and she didn't want that to happen between her and Kendall.

She couldn't even specifically explain _why_ she ended up falling for Kendall, for a while she denied it to herself anyway. Though when she did figure it out herself, she actually kind of hated herself for it. She prided herself on not being like most girls and how she had different experiences, but then she had to go and do the clichéd thing and fall for her best friend. She didn't want to be 'that' girl that practically tortured herself by not saying anything because of that fact, and then she turned around and did it anyway. It made her hate herself sometimes, but it also made her stop and think hard about it, especially when the whole Lucy thing came about. Being a caring friend she offered to help him go out with her…and that backfired in her face each and every time she saw how he had smiled at her. She didn't think that she would care that much, but she did.

It made her really think; how far would someone go to be sure that the person they cared about was happy?

Ronan laughed when he saw how red his eldest daughter's face was. "I'm sorry, I'm embarrassing you." He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, bringing her into his chest, resting his chin on her head. He then started to tickle her stomach, causing her to laugh and try to squirm away from him.

"Good eye." Riley deadpanned. She raised her free hand and scratched her forehead, hoping to hide her red face.

"OK, I'll drop the subject," Ronan teased. "Did you remember to take your medicine?" Riley twirled the medicine bottle behind her back and nodded. "Good, I'm going to turn in. Don't stay up too late." He moved forward and kissed Riley on the forehead. "Goodnight."

"Night, Dad," Riley replied.

She waited until he was out of the room, closing the door behind him, before she turned back around, replacing the medicine bottle back to its original spot. She then grabbed her laptop off of the desk and moved over to her bed, climbing on top of it. She smiled as the door nudged open and Rugby padded inside before leaping up onto her bed, sitting down next to her. She crossed her legs and placed her laptop on her lap, booting it up when her iPhone vibrated. She picked it up and looked at the screen before unlocking it.

**Hockey-Head: **You awake?

**Riley: **Always.

**Hockey-Head: **Chat?

**Riley: **Sure, but it can't be Skype; I don't want to wake anyone up. I'm already online

She put her phone down and logged into her computer, moving quickly by her desktop and pulled up her web browser to check her e-mail while she waited for Kendall to get on. She tried not to go to her ScuttleButter, knowing that she would just be bombarded by the same ScuttButts that she and her siblings usually got; asking if they were dating someone, when their next CD was coming out, and spam trying to get followed or just get some attention in general. She usually had no problem replying to fans (except for those that spammed whom they usually blocked) but she wasn't in the mood for constant questions and declarations of admiration at that point.

**KnightInShiningArmor: **So what happened after we left? Did Ronan's parents still insult you guys?

**RileyBaby11: **Not really. After you guys left, Ronan must have had a talk with his mom or something because she didn't really say much. But she kept making faces and disapproving noises whenever we did something that she didn't particularly approve of…which is basically everything.

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Well, you guys can be pretty…rambunctious at times.

**RileyBaby11:** Thanks, we take that as a compliment. ;)

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Surprise, surprise.

**RileyBaby11:** So what did you want? I don't think you wanted to chat just to ask about Ronan's mother. Did you have a story for me? You didn't tell me one today and usually you don't forget.

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Not much. I just couldn't sleep. Nothing really interesting happened today for me to tell.

**RileyBaby11:** So you texted me to talk and you have nothing to talk about? Can't say that I'm surprised. I'm sure not much goes on in that blonde head of yours besides hockey and food.

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Well, if you want something to talk about, why don't you give me my second lesson now?

Riley smiled a little before she typed back. _You can't say that this guy isn't persistent._

**RileyBaby11:** A little eager are we?

There was a lengthy pause. Riley cracked her knuckles as she looked at the blank screen. Then the words _KnightInShiningArmor is writing _came up. She yawned and rubbed her eyes as she waited for his words to appear.

She briefly closed her eyes as she thought about what had happened earlier that night. Typically she was able to handle the insults that Mrs. McGuire threw their way, they would make fun of them after they had left. But this time it made her a little more annoyed than usual. She already got enough flack about being a tomboy, having tattoos, and the way she acted on stage and in life by parents and random people on the internet. That was fine, she could handle that, it was people that didn't know her. But when it came to someone that was part of her family, even if it was only due legal documentation, it got to her a bit more than she would have liked. Most people didn't know that she was a very sensitive person and that she had a tendency to take everything to heart. But she didn't like showing that vulnerable side, which was why she usually only showed it around her family. It was probably why she got called intimidating so much, which was just as hurtful.

_Not that anyone would even think that I would get annoyed about that sort of thing. _Riley's upper lip curled before her face fell and she looked at her hands. _Sometimes I don't think that they'd ever get to know the real me…I don't even know if I want them to know the real me._

She looked down at the computer screen to see that Kendall had responded to her last message.

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Hey this is a bet; a bet that I plan on winning. Now, what would I make you do when you become my slave for a week? Probably wash all of my clothes and clean my room and do my homework for me…

**RileyBaby11:** Sexist much?

**KnightInShiningArmor:** You know that it's not even possible for me to be sexist. Not with my mom around at least.

**RileyBaby11:** Yeah, but you're a guy, so it's bound to happen eventually.

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Sexist much?

**RileyBaby11:** Maybe, but its worse if you're a guy.

**KnightInShiningArmor:** You're smirking aren't you?

**RileyBaby11:** No.

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Liar.

**RileyBaby11:** You can never tell when I lie. Only my brothers and sister and Logan and Ronan know. And they wouldn't tell you, no matter how many times you ask them. Besides, I've lied so much to you before you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between me lying and telling the truth. I could probably even convince you that the sky is green if I wanted to.

**KnightInShiningArmor:** You must think very highly of yourself.

Riley frowned before typing back.

**RileyBaby11:** Contrary to popular belief, I don't, actually. It's time that you learn that in the music industry, or just being in an industry where you're in the spotlight, people have a different public persona than a private one. Which is why our image is just greatly exaggerated versions of ourselves. Plus a lot of people think that just because we're in rock music that we only care about ourselves when it's quite obvious that they're wrong.

**KnightInShiningArmor**: That must have been bothering you for a while.

**RileyBaby11:** You have no idea. Anyway, second lesson, and this is one of the exaggerated parts for our image; _become the center of your world__._ Walk with purpose, talk with purpose, and slow down your movements. You have to make yourself, your life, and your time a priority. Basically, don't get walked all o ver.

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Hmm, I already do that with Gustavo. Seems to me that I'm winning this bet quicker than I thought.

**RileyBaby11:** Don't get a big head just yet, Hockey-Head. I don't think you want your nose or eyebrows to get even bigger than they already are. :)

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Ouch. Any quicker and I would have thought that you actually meant that. Oh, there's something that I wanted to know though. Your screen name doesn't seem like something that you would choose, image or not. So how'd you get it?

Riley hesitated, her hands hovering over her keyboard. She wasn't sure how to answer the question. Either way she knew that someone was going to feel irritated with the truth; either her, already knowing the reason why, or him due to the fact that it was his personality of jumping to conclusions. Finally, she decided on how to respond.

**RileyBaby11:** That's not really any of your business is it, mate?

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Just asking.

Riley's lips twitched.

**RileyBaby11:** Coward. You can't answer a freaking simple question.

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Whatever. *rolls eyes*

**RileyBaby11:** I was thinking of changing it anyway.

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Wow, I didn't realize how late it had gotten.

Riley looked at the clock and her eyes widened when she realized that two and a half hours had already passed. It was no wonder that she had gotten so tired. She let out a light groan when she remembered that she and her siblings were headed to the gym early the next morning and at that point, it seemed that she shouldn't even bother going to sleep at all.

**KnightInShiningArmor:** I'm going to get some sleep. Talk to you later.

**RileyBaby11**: Peace.

**KnightInShiningArmor: **By the way, you don't look like a twelve year old boy, you never do.

With a soft smile on her face, Riley x'd out of the chat and closed her laptop. Then her smile faded as she clenched her hands into fists, and started taking deep breaths through her nose. She brought her closed fists to her forehead and continued to take deep breaths, on the verge of hyperventilating.

_Calm down. Calm down. _She told herself. _You don't have to do this. _

She lowered her hands when her breathing slowed. She picked up her laptop and gently set it on the floor before getting up to turn out the lights. She stopped and looked into Rhuben's room before quietly walking inside. She picked up a medium-sized stuff bear off of the floor and then gently set it down next to Rhuben's head before going back to her room and turning off the lights.

She then slowly walked back across the room to her bed, trying not to bump into anything, climbed under her covers, and went to dreamless sleep.

* * *

**A/N: **Not much to say, you guys may guess what's going on maybe not, since we've only ever mentioned it in two fics before.

I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	5. And the time that you were stranded

**.:Chapter 05:.**

_So now you're really embracing the whole bad-body mindset, you've gone and changed your clothes to represent it on the outside. But now you're starting to be looked at funny and treated differently. Annoyed? To make things lighter and fluffier sprinkle some on some powdered flirting and then top it all off with a night of fun with your best friends._

* * *

"Hey guys, we need to figure out what we're going to do tonight," Logan said as he, James, Carlos, and Kendall walked through the mall, having just left a Dippin' Dots stand. He spooned some of his Cookies and Cream flavored ice cream into his mouth. "Not to say that I'm against watching movies and playing board games for tradition, but maybe we should do something different tonight."

"Like what?" James asked with a snort. "Half of the interesting things that you can do in LA you have to get invited to first. And we're not at that part of fame yet."

"Do _you _have any suggestions?" Logan shot back.

"No, I'm just saying that if we're going to do something other than watch movies and play games, it has to be something that will actually keep my attention." James shrugged. "Either that or give me maximum exposure with our fans." He whipped his mirror out of his pocket and started to tug at the strands of his hair, making sure that it all fell into place.

"I know!" Carlos's eyes lit up. "Let's go mini-golfing! We haven't gone since we left Minnesota."

"Are there any good places to golf around here?" James asked, turning to Logan.

Logan thought for a moment. "I can find some. It wouldn't take long, just a simple search through my phone in a ten mile radius from our apartment. Sounds good to me." He nodded. "But we need to get the Jacksons' opinion on it first." He then blinked when he realized that he didn't get a response from Kendall. He craned his head around and saw Kendall slowly walking behind them, texting on his phone. "Kendall?" He got his attention.

"What?" Kendall lifted his head, his green eyes training on Logan.

"We were just asking whether or not you thought that going to play mini-golf after dinner tonight was a good idea," Carlos explained.

James grinned. "Who were you texting?

"Mom," Kendall said quickly, waving his phone. He slid it into his pocket before resting his thumbs on the edges of his dark jeans. "I was listening to you guys; I was just telling her what we were planning on doing."

"Speaking of the Jacksons though, how'd the bet going?" James changed the subject.

"Do my clothes answer your question?" Kendall asked, giving James a funny look as he held his arms out.

He was wearing the exact same set of clothes that he had worn when WayneWayne was around the first time, complete with the chains and the eyeliner. He had forced his mother to put the eyeliner on earlier that morning, even though she had given him a funny look when he had asked her to. He had to admit that he did feel more confident that way, the same way he had been when he, the guys, Gustavo, and Kelly had thrown WayneWayne out of Big Time Rush. But he couldn't help but notice the stares and the odd looks that he had been getting as he walked around the mall with his friends.

"I'm surprised that you still have those." Logan said carefully. "Considering how badly you _didn't_ want to be the bad boy in the first place."

"Yeah, well." Kendall shrugged. "It was a suggestion that someone gave me. Gotta look the part, right?"

"Right!" Logan, Carlos, and James replied.

"Anyway, let's check to see if they're working today." Logan finished his desert and tossed the plastic cup into a trash can. "I think they took an extra shift today, at least that's what Rhu told me. I could have my days mixed up though."

"Logan Mitchell getting _something_ wrong?" James teased, poking Logan in the cheek. "I'll believe it when I see it." Logan pushed James's hand away and reached up, smacking him on the back of the head. The force of the hit caused James' face to fall towards the spoonful of his desert, that he had been bringing to his mouth, and knock into it, the jostle causing him to spill his desert all over the floor.

Carlos and Kendall laughed loudly.

"Dude! You made me spill my ice cream!" James cried. His eyes were wide as he stared down at his rapidly melting dessert. "Buy me another one!"

"No way." Logan smirked. "Unlike you, I have to save up for college."

"You won't have anything to save for if you're dead," James threatened.

"Guys, chill." Kendall held up his hands. "We always have dessert when it's tradition, don't worry about it. I'm sure that Mom will make something for us if I ask." He rolled his eyes, shaking his head, as he turned and led the way to the Cascade Café. It was a restaurant in the mall that was like a cross between a Applebees and a café that a lot of people frequented. Their friends had worked there since they first came to LA as a ways to stay grounded and a way for them to get extra spending money when Robert wouldn't let them use their own.

"Oh! There's Sydney!" Carlos pointed over to a booth where Sydney had his arms stretched across the table playing a Nintendo DS. Carlos hurried over and squeezed into the booth seat next to the eleven year old boy. "Hey, watcha playing?"

"Hey guys!" Sydney greeted cheerfully. He paused the game and lowered it onto the table. "What brings you by?"

"First, why is your hair wet?" James asked as he, Logan, and Kendal moved into the seat opposite of him and Carlos. "I know that the wet look works on people, but I'm just warning you now that it doesn't look as good, the older you get."

Sydney smiled. "I was at the beach."

"Again?!" Kendall and Logan chorused. "Man." Logan shook his head. "You guys are _always _there. It's like your head is permanently wet now."

Sydney shrugged modestly. "Pretty much." He saved and turned off his game before spinning the handheld device on the table. "There's really not much to do when you guys are working or just aren't at the PalmWoods. So we go to the beach or to the skate park or just hang out or whatever." He sat up straight. "You have good timing though; my brothers and sisters just ended their shift." He looked over Logan's head. "There they are."

"Hey boys," Rhuben greeted as she, Riley, Patrick, and Noah walked over to the group. She leaned over and grabbed a spoonful of Carlos's Cotton Candy flavored Dippin' Dots and took a bite before handing the spoon over to Riley, who did the same. "What's up?"

"Not much," James replied with a smile. "We just came by to see what you were up to. As usual we find that you were at the beach."

"Can't help that," Patrick said. He gave his lopsided smile. "We're 'water babies' for a reason." Having grown up in Australia and then going out to LA every six months to work on releasing their music for the American market, he and his siblings practically lived at the beach. Even to the point that their mother, when she was pregnant with each of them, would still go to the beach and play in the water, not being one to let her condition stop her from having fun. "The Beach is like our second home."

"I thought LA was your second home." Carlos remarked.

"They call it Hell-A for a reason," Riley dead-panned and everyone laughed. She then tilted her head as she got a good look at Kendall. Once again, Kendall had to look away, trying to keep his face from flushing. He couldn't help the butterflies that had gone into his stomach though. That familiar feeling was really starting to bug him. "What's up with the clothes?" She turned to Rhuben. "I thought we burned them."

"So did I." Rhuben then turned to Sydney.

Sydney twirled his thumbs around and then shrugged. "I'm not allowed to play with matches." He finally said, quietly.

"What do you think?" Kendall asked.

"Frankly, I think you care too much about my opinion." Riley looked him up and down once more. "To make the look better, try smirking instead of smiling at me." She instructed. Kendall did as he was told. "Sexy." She finally decided.

"Very," Rhuben agreed with a nod.

"Hey!" James looked offended.

"Relax," Noah shook his head. "No girl can resist your charm and body, James. So you don't have to worry." He smiled. "I'm sure that my sisters can find a way to easily inflate your ego." He reached into the front pocket of his black shorts. "By the way, one female infant back there," he pointed over his shoulder where two girls, about the age of eleven, waved to them. "Wanted me to relay this message to you," Noah cleared his throat. "I quote: 'You are cute. You have a cute butt. Do you want to party?' End quote."

"Are you serious?" Logan laughed. "That's pathetic."

"I agree, my butt is so much cuter," Carlos added with a large smile. The group laughed again. "Anyway, we were thinking that tonight after dinner we could-"

"Hey, how about, like, a check?" A girl in her late teens called, from a table over. Everyone watched as The Jacksons' boss, Tom, looked at the girl and then tried to keep from rolling his eyes before he went to go get the check.

"Hey, how about, like, you're obnoxious." Rhuben shook her head. "Trust me, guys; you _don't_ want to work in the food industry. The only reason we stay is because our co-workers are cool, its flexible hours, and its good pay."

"Apart from our band you mean," Patrick corrected her.

"Exactly," Rhuben agreed.

"Anyway," Carlos grabbed their attention again. He twirled his thumbs and gave a bright smile. "We were thinking of going mini-golfing later today after dinner, instead of sitting around and watching TV like we usually do. You guys up for that?"

"Yeah." Sydney nodded. "We haven't done it in forever. Sounds like fun to me."

"Cool." Kendall smiled. "What do you guys want to do now? We could-"

"Hold on a minute, Hockey-Head." Riley held up a hand, signaling that she wanted him to be quiet, before twisting her hand and pointing at him. "I've got plans for you." She looked at James, Logan, and Carlos before looking over at Rhuben and widening her eyes. Patrick, Noah, and Sydney smiled knowingly. "And I don't think the others would want to get wrapped up in what we're doing." Noah laughed.

"Trust me, you don't." Rhuben waved a hand. "Nothing good comes out of being around someone that's being put through Plan S."

"Plan S?" Patrick thought for a long moment. He then snapped his fingers. "Isn't that the one that we used on Dak a while ago?" He grinned when Rhuben nodded. "Good times." He then looked thoughtful before wincing. "He probably still hasn't forgiven us for that though." Sydney slowly shook his head.

"What's Plan S?" Logan looked worried.

"You'll find out," Riley said simply.

* * *

"Oh." Kendall looked down at Riley when she got his attention. "Do you have a story for me today?"

"Yep." Kendall nodded, immediately getting what she was asking. Shortly after she and her siblings had started to work with Big Time Rush, he had a story about their day waiting for them when they got to Rocque Records. It could have been about something they did the night before, something that happened at school, something that happened at work, or just complaining about Bitters, but he usually did have something to say.

"You should have seen my Mom when I asked her about the eyeliner." He shook out his hair. "It was bad enough for her to see me dressed completely in back and looking different than normal, but I think she nearly had a heart attack when I asked where her eyeliner was."

"I don't doubt it," Riley remarked. She moved her gaze to the ceiling as she thought. "I mean, of all the times that you guys had been dressed up as girls, or needed some of her clothes, or the time when she caught James and Logan holding hands and stuff, I'm surprised it took her this long to get worried about it." She smirked. "I mean, if I didn't know that you guys were completely straight, I would be very worried."

Kendall laughed. He did have to admit that there were multiple times that he wondered if people did think that something was going on with him and his friends due to how close they were and because of the schemes that they managed to fall into. There wouldn't be things such as Kogan or Jarlos if people didn't notice it. It got to the point that he and his friends had managed to laugh off all of the accusations that something was going on.

"Oh come on, you know that you guys wouldn't be as entertained without our plans," Kendall said.

"Hm, if memory serves correctly, your plans always fail and mine always work." Riley looked proud. "Then again, I've had years of practice and you're just an amateur." She scratched the back of her head. "It makes me wonder why we constantly help you out when we just keep getting in trouble for it."

"Isn't it obvious?" Kendall gave a big, cheesy grin. "You love me."

"You bug me." Riley swiftly returned, barely giving Kendall a chance to finish his sentence. She craned her neck and then darted into the Vans store that they were passing. She went over to a rack and picked up a pair of shoes. "Dude, check it out! The new vulcanized are in."

Kendall was shocked at the biggest smile that he had ever seen on Riley's face. She was holding onto a new pair of Vans shoes, looking at the price and trying to figure out if she wanted the black and white ones that were in her hands or the solid black ones that were on the shelf above her head. _I don't think I've ever made her smile like that before. _Kendall made a sound and rolled his eyes at himself as he pushed the thought away. _Act confident, that's one of the biggest rules. _"Are they in your size?" He asked.

"No, they're in yours!" Riley turned and shoved it into his chest. "Come on, you have to get them! They don't cost that much." Kendall looked them over, hesitating for a minute. He frowned when he heard Riley start to say words that he had said many times before. "Opportunities like this only come once in a lifetime." Though she said it in a sing-song voice.

"Geez." Kendall made a face. "I never realized how annoying that sounds when you're the one that's listening to it."

"Well, you're annoying in general, but I'm used to it by now." Riley's smirk widened.

Kendall thought about it a few minutes more. It was a good pair of Vans, he usually couldn't pass up when it came to getting a new pair, and he had almost forty of them already. But…he still wasn't sure.

"Trust me; the novelty does wear off fast." Riley added her eyes.

"Oh, thanks." Kendall rolled his eyes.

"You're welcome." Riley stuck her tongue out in reply, causing the two to laugh. "So." She poked him in the stomach, looking slightly confused before brushing her hair out of her face and tilting her head back to look at him. "Are you going to get them?"

"Mmm," Kendall twisted his mouth to the side. "Yeah." He finally decided. "You talked me into it."

"Sweet." Riley cheered and gave him a high-five. "Let's go pay for it." She moved behind Kendall and placed her hands on his lower back, pushing him towards the cash register.

It was at that moment that Kendall realized what was wrong. She was acting sort of different. Most of the time she wouldn't really show how…excited she could get unless she was around all of the guys or her brothers and sister. It was probably the first time that she seemed to be completely comfortable around him. That thought alone made him smile so wide he thought that his face would split open. Kendall went to the register and paid for the shoes. Riley stood a little ways off to the side, looking at a carousel of accessories.

"What are you looking at?" He asked.

"These watches." Riley replied.

Kendall stepped up to her side and looked over the watches that were on the shelf. He looked up as movement caught his eye and he noticed that a sales rep was slowly walking around the store, it seemed that her eyes were trained on the two of them. Kendall looked at her and the woman turned the corner around another rack of shoes, but he was sure that she was still watching them. It was the same sort of look that he had been getting from other people in the mall all day. _What's their problem? _

Riley's voice broke him out of his thoughts. "Which one do you like?"

"Um." Kendall scanned the selection and his eyes rested on a silver one. He picked it up and held it in his hand, nice and light weight, and the light from the ceiling lights bounced off of the watch perfectly. "This one's cool." He looked at the tag and read aloud. "It's a Nixon 51-30 TI Titanium Watch." He turned it over to look at the price and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "799.95?!"

"Do you want it?"

Kendall looked over at Riley and noticed that while her face was completely blank, she had a wicked gleam in her eye, like she was up to something. _I can't put it past her; she's always up to something. _Kendall put the watch back. "For that much? No way." He shook his head.

"So take it." Riley said simply.

Kendall looked hard at her. "What?" He asked quietly.

"You heard me." Her blue eyes bored into his, silently challenging him. "Take it. You said you wanted to be a bad boy, this usually goes along with it."

Kendall continued to look at her for a moment before looking away. He turned on his heel and started to walk out of the store. He could hear Riley's footsteps behind him. A second before he got to the storefront, the same sales rep jumped in front of him. She had a triumphant look on her face as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Empty your pockets please, sir," she said calmly.

"Why?" Kendall asked as Riley stepped up to his side. He lifted his bag of shoes. "This is all that I've got."

"Just please, empty your pockets," The woman repeated. She then looked over at Riley, who looked defiantly back at her. "You too, please." Kendall watched as Riley turned her pockets inside out and held onto her wallet and phone. It was then that Kendall understood what was going on. He figured out why everyone had been looking at him so weirdly all day.

"I can't believe this," he muttered under his breath. "You wear some different clothes and everyone thinks that you're a criminal." Kendall emptied his pockets and held open the bag for the sales rep. She looked through the bag, even going so far as to look through the shoes that he had just bought. Kendall frowned when she lifted her head and caught his gaze.

"Store procedure," she explained quickly, looking disappointed.

"Store procedure my ass!" Riley snapped, her cheeks turning a bit red. "Just because you have the audacity to judge someone based on their looks, which I get enough of to be quite honest, doesn't mean that we're bad people." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked the sales rep up and down. "You may work at a skating store, but you're nothing but a prissy little _asshole_ that thinks that they can get away with this sort of thing!" She pointed back behind her. "Now, if you think that you have a fucking case, and then go check the watches, if not, you can pick your jaw up off of the floor and leave me, the fuck, alone."

The sales rep closed her mouth and she let Kendall and Riley leave the store. Kendall didn't speak again until he was sure that they were a good distance away. "It's official; you're a horrible influence on me!" Kendall declared his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans.

"How exactly?" Riley laughed as she crossed her arms over her chest, opening her stride as she walked next to him. She batted her eyelashes as she tilted her head up to look at him. "Pray tell, to what do I owe this honor?" She rubbed her chin. "I'm sorry, _who_ was the one that was muttering under their breath about the snotty salesperson and how he couldn't understand how someone would act that way?" She eyed him. "If I remember correctly, the voice came from a dumb blonde."

Kendall turned to her, an eyebrow raised. "First, I'm not a dumb blonde." He corrected her, stifling the smile that was trying to worm its way onto his face. He reached out and lightly shoved her, causing her to laugh again. "And secondly, I didn't mean for you to walk right up to her and tell her she's a prissy little-" He coughed lightly, unwilling to repeat her choice of words, never being one to curse much. "And did you really have to taunt her with that watch?"

"Hey!" Riley held her hands up defensively before smirking at him. "You're the one that wanted me to show you how to be this way, take this as a crash course in 'Bad Boy 101'." She lowered her arms. "Or in my case, Bad _Girl_ 101." She held up an index finger. "Not that it's an actual thing," she added.

"Well, what if she got ticked off and called security and is making a case against you or something?" He waved an arm. "This mall is full of security cameras, what if we get caught?"

"I have an idea." Riley said with fake enthusiasm. "Let's _not_ get caught." She rolled her eyes as she placed her hands on her hips. "Geez Hockey-Head, for someone who wants to learn how to do this so badly, you're just making it harder for yourself."

Kendall laughed. "It's when you have brilliant ideas like _that, _that I'm reminded of your evil plan for world domination." He grinned at her.

She rolled her eyes again before bringing her hand up to make the shape of an 'L' against her forehead. "Loser." She replied.

Kendall moved his hands into the shape of a 'W' and put it against his own forehead. "Whatever." He said with an eye roll of his own. The two laughed.

"That's them!" The shrill voice was all too familiar, cutting through the crowds as harsh as they remembered. Riley immediately tensed, her shoulders flying up to her ears and her lips parting so that her clenched teeth showed. Unsure of what to do, Kendall looked over at her, his heart beat starting to increase rapidly.

"I think your brilliant plan just failed." Kendall finally managed to whisper.

"I'll have to work on that." Riley said as she very slowly turned her head, looking behind her as her hair covered her face, making it seem like she was looking at a store they were passing rather than the men hurrying after them. Behind them, security guards began to push people out of the way to get to the two teens. She sighed and thought for a moment before grabbing onto his arm. "Come on!"

Riley took off running, pulling Kendall along behind her. She hurried into the first bathroom that she found, pushing by a curious looking three year old before she crammed the two of them into a toilet stall, locking it behind her.

"A bathroom stall?" Kendall asked. "Really?" He looked down at her, suddenly noticing how close their faces were. "You couldn't have picked a bigger place to hide?"

"It was either this or a store's dressing room; this was the first one that I thought of." Riley said, pulling her face back out of the crack in the stall and looked up at Kendall. Her eyes narrowed. "By the way, you've used too much eyeliner." She pointed out.

"I'm guessing you've done this before," Kendall said.

"Once or twice," Riley replied vaguely.

The two fell silent when they heard the three year old outside of the stall. "Mommy, I just saw two people go into the potty together. What are they doing?"

Kendall laughed quietly, putting a hand over his mouth. The whole situation was ridiculous; they didn't do anything wrong, got chased into a mall bathroom, and now they had a innocent kid whose mother was probably wondering how she was going to explain this to him.

"Nothing sweetie, don't worry about them." The woman then said. "Go outside and wait for daddy." Kendall and Riley could hear the little kid leave the restroom and then footsteps head over to the stall that they were crammed in. "Excuse me, this is a public place. A _family_ public place, you can't do that here."

Kendall looked over at Riley, who gave him a challenging look in return before sliding her gaze down to her fingernails, inspecting them. Suddenly filled with confidence, Kendall reached out and grabbed onto the lock and slid it back before opening the door, sticking his head out. "We'd like some privacy here, thanks. Hormones and all." He slammed the door shut in the stunned woman's face and tried not to laugh when he heard the woman walk away.

Riley slowly clapped. "I'm impressed," She said, matter-of-fact.

"So am I," Kendall admitted. "You should have seen the look on the woman's face." He then smirked at her. He watched as Riley's face twitched for a second before he looked away. "I don't think she's going to get this image out of her head for a while." His smirk widened. "And since I'm progressing with this whole bet, I think that we can lower the two month parameter for it."

"No way, Hockey-Head." Riley shook her head. "I still have plenty of ways to make sure that you lose. And if you're implying that you want to have another lesson soon. I can't. We're going to see our therapist soon."

Kendall's smirk dropped and he looked concerned. "Is everything ok?"

"Everything's fine," Riley rubbed her arm. "We're going because he wants to see how we're progressing." She explained.

"You do realize that this means that we're going to be an afternoon short of proving who is going to win this bet." Kendall pointed out.

"Oh! That's so sweet!" Riley teased sarcastically, her upper lip curled. "Your world revolves around me!" Her face relaxed into an expression that Kendall couldn't place. But she and her siblings were always good at that, being able to completely wipe any emotion from their face so no one knew what was going on with them. Her face then fell. "Trust me; I'm not worth the time."

"I don't know." Kendall thought for a second. "There's just something about you always being around and making fun of me that's so-"

"Sexy?" She supplied. "Fun? Exotic? Tempting?" She threw words at him, waiting to see what his answer would be.

_Yes. Yes, yes, and yes. _It would have been wishful thinking if she was flirting with him. He could admit that while she wasn't insanely gorgeous; she had a plain looking face; it was her confidence that made her stand out to him. Kendall smiled. "Ridiculous." He finished. "It's funny, really."

"Do you want to get punched in the stomach?" Riley asked.

"No." Kendall said.

"Then don't provoke me."

"It's good to know I've succeeded my life's goal." Kendall said.

"Nice snark." Riley raised an eyebrow. "Remind me again why we're best friends?" She asked aloud, searching his face as if for the answer.

"Because you have a thing for dorks." He answered matter-of-factly. He avoided responding to her phrasing of their relationship. The truth was, he was afraid she'd turn him down if he officially asked her out right then. Before, she needed him. Plus, he didn't want their memory of him asking her out to be in a mall bathroom, it was anything but romantic.

"Oh yeah. That." Her voice was dry. She then stood up straight, pushing her body a little closer to Kendall's. He instinctively shrank backwards to give her more room. "Uh, if no one's in here…why are we still in the stall?"

Kendall gave her a blank look before he opened the bathroom stall and the two walked out of the bathroom like nothing had happened. He jumped when he heard a loud voice behind them, commanding them to stop. He turned to see two security guards behind them, gaining on them quickly.

"Come on!" Riley grabbed onto Kendall's wrist and tugged him forward, slipping out the emergency exit door that was to her immediate left. By the time they reached Riley's car, they knew they had lost the two security guards behind them.

"Seriously," Kendall caught his breath. "You're a bad influence on me."

"And yet, you love me anyway," Riley replied.

Kendall sighed. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take.

* * *

"FORE!"

Logan winced as a golf ball went shooting by his head, smacking a tree above him and hitting the small putting green, rolling a few inches towards the windmill. He turned and faced Rhuben, who placed her putter back on the ground.

"I'm not sure if you're aware of this, Bella," he spoke to her. "But in mini golf, you're just trying to get the ball into the hole, not shoot it halfway across the facility and nearly take out my eye!" He gestured violently towards his right eye with his golf club before giving her a hard stare.

Rhuben shrugged as she walked over to him. "I'm horrible at golf, Logie-Bear so why does that make a difference?"

"Having fun?" James asked her with a light laugh, resting his arm on her shoulder. Rhuben looked at the ball that was sitting close to the hole but not close enough for a gust of wind to kick it in.

She tilted her head back and looked up at him, giving him a sarcastic roll of her eyes. "Does this look like fun? Look at me, I'm a freaking mess."

"You look beautiful, actually," James contradicted her. He removed his arm from her shoulders and gave her a flirtatious smile. "Do you need help?"

"No." Rhuben laughed. "I was talking about the game, but thanks." She looped an arm around his waist and patted his stomach. "I seem to be throwing myself a pity party for one, so just ignore me."

"Well, that's the thing." James winked at her. "I could never ignore you."

Logan sighed and rolled his eyes as he took a step back, allowing Kendall to take his shot at getting the ball through the windmill. He smiled as Kendall took his shot and abruptly started to scream and rant and rave as his ball had looked like it was going to get through the windmill, but was hit back at the last second.

"Who even _likes_ golf anyway?" Patrick asked, his face the epitome of boredom, from where he was sitting on the ground, waiting to take his turn. He twisted his golf club in his hands as he watched his friends take their turns at the hole. "You have to be quiet the whole time and you have to wear all of those stupid clothes and shoot a ball about the size of a peanut into a hole the size of a quarter that's about 100 yards away from where you start." He crossed his ankles and looked up as Katie appeared by his side.

"You're only saying that because you're losing." Katie commented, scanning the scorecard that she held in her hand. "And because you're bad at it."

"No, I'm only saying it because this game is _stupid_!"

Logan laughed as he waited for his friends to finish. None of them seemed to be taking the game so seriously, but of course, Kendall was the one that was getting so competitive about it. Even if he was the one that was winning, and by a lot considering the others' scores. He backed up as Carlos took his turn on the hole, swinging his club back so far that it almost hit Noah in the face. He then swung and hit the ball with a lot of force, but cheered when he still managed to get it through the windmill.

"My turn!" Sydney set his ball on the ground and lined up his putter. He looked back and forth a few times before he smacked the ball. To no one's surprise, he managed to get a hole-in-one, like he had been on every whole they had played so far. "Yes! Another hole-in-one!" He turned and grinned at his older friends. "I am sooooo creaming you guys!"

"You can't say that he's modest," Noah said, deadpan.

"Whatever." Katie laughed. She turned to Kendall, looking up from the score sheet that she held in her hands. "So how was the mall? How did Plan S go?"

"Did they tell you what it was?" Logan asked her, looking at Katie. He motioned to himself, James, and Carlos before pointing over to the Jacksons. "We want to know, but they won't tell us."

"No, I don't know." Katie shook her head. "They won't tell me either." She then smiled a little. "But I'm going to find out."

Kendall looked over at Riley and caught her gaze. She smirked. "It was fine." He replied casually, turning back to Logan. "It was pretty uneventful, actually."

"By the way." Riley got Kendall's attention. "Lesson number three," Riley placed her hands on her lower back. "Be decisive." She reached into her pocket and threw something at him. Kendall caught it in his hand. "Know what you want and know how to get it."

Kendall opened his hand to see the watch resting in his palm. He looked up at Riley. "How'd you get this?"

Riley looked at him for a long time. "Since we've been adopted by Ronan and life has gotten better for us, I haven't lied to ya, and I'm not gonna start now." She paused. "That being said, I can't answer your question."

* * *

**A/N: **Camille, Stephanie, Dak, WayneWayne, and Lizzie are coming up soon. In cased you missed my tweet about it (our twitter is DarkElements10) due to chapter length, this story has been reduced to 11 chapters. Riley may have seemed a bit OOC in this (and might also seem that way in future chapters) but it will all be explained soon. Sorry it was dialogue driven, but I hope you guys liked this chapter.

Cheers,

-Riles


	6. I was there before you landed

**.:Chapter 06:.**

_You remember those pieces of frustration that you put into the freezer? You can heat one up now. Blend it with the subconscious things that you do and finally figuring out why you do them and you get?…A mess._

* * *

Riley flipped through the notebook that was sitting in her lap. Page after page had scribbles, song lyrics, notes to remind her of something to do that day or what assignment was coming up. Then there were small letters, her thoughts and feelings at different times of different days. Days where she was happy, days where she was annoyed. Days were she was just content. A few passages jumped out at her a few times.

_As a kid I was perfectly healthy on the outside but on the inside I was very unstable. I don't think anyone really noticed it until Robert started to pressure us more and more. I didn't even notice it myself, I just shrugged it off by saying that I was quick to anger and that was all the explanation that anyone needed. _

_I would have huge fits that would consist of throwing and destroying everything in sight if I didn't get my way. I would also scream as loud as I could. I remember one time that I had to be pinned down so I didn't hurt anyone. I'd be locked in my room and while I was there I would destroy it. Breaking things was a way of releasing my anger. My reason for my tantrums could be from anything. I would look for an excuse for a fight. It got easier when I started to hang out with people who were my friends at the time, who liked to get in trouble. It was an outlet._

Riley rested her notebook on her chest and stretched out onto her bed, looking up at the ceiling. Her head swirled with thousands of thoughts. What she had to do to make sure Kendall lost the bet was the main one. She was frustrated at this point. She tried getting him to shoplift to scare him out of what he thought was a glamorous lifestyle. It was the only reason that she had agreed to the bet in the first place, just so he would realize that being considering a 'bad boy' or a 'bad girl' wasn't as cool as others thought. Ok, that wasn't the only reason, she wanted to spend time with him too, but it was the main reason. She knew that she had gotten him when she saw the look on his face when she suggested that he take the watch.

He wasn't going to steal it.

But she couldn't help but feel…_hurt _at the look of disappointment that was on his face. She hid it really well, but that really did hurt her feelings and make her feel nothing short of crap. Apparently he thought that she really would go and do something like that. But she wouldn't, not anymore. Not after she had been stupid enough to get into all sorts of trouble when she was growing up back in Australia. It was an outlet to get rid of her frustration and not being able to control, or understand what was going on in her head when she used to do it. Now it was thrown back into her face by the one guy that she supposed she could really fall for at one point.

_I do have some experience as a girl who was used by guys. And though I hate to admit it, I still believe in love._

Riley snorted as she ripped that portion out of her notebook. She crumpled it up and tossed it to the floor. Absentmindedly, she started to lightly tug at Kendall's leather bracelet as it sat on her wrist. She lifted her arm and hooked her index finger on it, starting to twist it back and forth around her arm. She hadn't taken it off since he gave it to her, like she hadn't taken off the necklace that her parents gave her when she was born, just like the rest of her siblings.

It was comforting.

Riley reached under her shirt and pulled out the silver and red fireball necklace. She studied it for a long moment. It was shaped like a guitar pick and had an imprint of red flames on the front. It was the one piece of jewelry that she took very special care of, to make sure it didn't rust or fall apart.

_ "It's possible that you guys are experiences complicated grief, which is usually seen after the loss of a loved one. Well, you're exhibiting it in different ways." Dr. Angelo said calmly._

_"You mean, like different moments of PTSD?" Rhuben asked slowly. "We understand that that's going to come up every now and then."_

_"No," Dr. Angelo said patiently. "I mean, you, Rhuben, you said that you just went to quietly cool down after your fight with your parents, right? And Riley, you said that you got really angry and yelled a bit. I think that the reason that you two exhibit those two extremes when you're mad, quietness and anger, is because every time you get mad, you subconsciously think back to when your parents died and immediately switch to that emotion. But take it to a further extent."_

_The Jacksons sat across from him in stunned silence. It made sense. No one could actually tell how something as traumatizing and watching your parents die was going to do to you. They had even been in the hospital room, telling their parents goodbye when they had both flat lined. If that wasn't traumatizing then the abuse that they had suffered for years afterwards didn't help matters much. It just made them wonder, if their parents hadn't died in the first place, would they still be the same people that they were now? Would they still have the same friends that they had now?_

_"The same thing when you're driving; Riley you drive pretty fast and Rhuben is very cautious. It doesn't help that you had the added trauma of what you went through with Robert, the fact that you kept that quiet for so long has also added to that, which is seen in your nightmares and when you think thought that you saw Robert around you." He looked hard at Riley and Rhuben. "Plus, it also caused the other things that you are battling for the rest of your lives."_

_"What about me?" Sydney asked, frowning with concern. "I was only one when my parents did. But it's still as traumatizing, how come it didn't affect me or Patrick and Noah the same way?"_

_"Because of the fact that you were so young it manifested in a different way with you. That's why you're so…attached to your siblings, and it caused you to regress at times. It's also what caused you to fall back onto your smarts, which in turn, caused you to subconsciously alienate people around you, so you made yourself lonely."_

_Sydney nodded eyes wide._

_"With Patrick and Noah, it's a bit different," Dr. Angelo continued. "It manifested into their need to be with each other. But at the same time, it's caused you to be very wary of whom you let into your life. It's also why you rarely show it when you're angry, because you feel that it's not worth the aggravation and you don't know what's going to happen to someone else afterwards."_

Riley closed her notebook and flung it across the room. She couldn't get Dr. Angelo's words out of her head. Every time that she was mad, was because she was subconsciously reminding herself of when her parents died and the added anger that she felt when Robert was around. It just made her even more upset. The fact that she was constantly hurting her friends' feelings and yelling at them and being mean and calling them names when she didn't mean it. They didn't mind and always forgave her for it, but she didn't deserve it. It was one of the few times that she questioned Robert's words to her: _you don't deserve to have friends._

Riley reached over and grabbed her medicine bottle off of her desk. She stared at her name as it was completely spelled out and then studied the bottle, reading the instructions. "Anticonvulsants," she read out loud. "Lithium. Take 500mg before bedtime." She smirked as she tightened her grip on the bottle. "If this is supposed to help, then how come I've been taking it for years and just keep getting worse?" She unscrewed the cap and put a pill in her mouth, swallowing it with a gulp from a root beer bottle she had sitting by her bed.

She then threw the bottle across the room where it hit the wall and popped open, sending pills all over the floor. Riley clenched her fists and brought them up to her forehead before lightly hitting herself on the forehead. She then put her forehead to her bed and started to slam her fists on the bed repeatedly.

"Why?! Why?! Why is this happening to me?" She cried, tears falling down her cheeks. She pressed her forehead against the bed and screamed a gut wrenching scream, her voice muffled by her sheets.

* * *

**A/N: **I'm sorry that this chapter was so short. I had originally intended for this chapter to be where it showed the Jacksons all having gone to the therapist and you saw the whole conversation, but I couldn't write it without it sounding so…boring. So I took bits and pieces of it so you can find out what's been going on with Riley and why she has been a bit OOC. If you recognize it from before then you know why, but it won't be confirmed for a few more chapters. I'm planning on having the whole conversation with the therapist to be a deleted scene soon, so keep a lookout for that.

Because I've basically taken away the Racy side plot of this (except when it's implied by someone) I'm thinking of making it up by doing a story that focuses on Mrs. Knight and Ronan. What do you think of that?

I hope that you guys liked this chapter, it was really drama filled, but the ones coming up and towards the end will have some WAFF as well as humor. I'll tell you now, you're going to like the next chapter.

Cheers,

-Riles


	7. He was a no show I made sure you got hom

**.:Chapter 07:.**

_This was something that you waited a long time for. The one that you like finally opens up to you in a way that you couldn't have imagined. Finally, you know that they trust you completely, now you can pursue that relationship that you wanted. Take it and put a sugar coating of fondant over it and bake it so you can enjoy it as long as you want._

* * *

"Lizz, come on, we have to get going!" Dak called. He rolled his eyes and tilted his head back down when his sister shouted back, for about the tenth time, that she would be ready to go to the mall in 'just a minute'. "Don't be surprised if we're still here in another half hour." He rested his cheek on his upraised palm, lying lazily on the couch.

"You should be used to it by now," Rhuben commented. She was sitting cross-legged on the couch next to him, looking down at her phone. "Your sister is nothing short of high maintenance at times." She lifted her head and smirked at him. "That's why we told you that we would be going to the beach an hour earlier than we're actually going."

"Good thinking." Dak nodded.

"No," Riley laughed. "We just know your sister." She slouched down in the leather armchair that she was sitting in and crossed her legs at the knee. She looked at her watch. "Where's WayneWayne?" She asked.

Dak waved a hand. "He said that he had to get the car from his sisters so you know how long _that's_ going to take." He pushed himself up as he heard the front door open. "Speak of the devil." He said after as WayneWayne entered the house, closing the door behind him. "Dude, took you long enough."

"Don't ask," WayneWayne said warily. He rubbed his eyes and yawned. "Seriously, it's not even worth it." He went over to Dak and gave him a high-five before he leaned over and gave Rhuben a one-armed hug. He turned around and

"Hey there Little Miss Riley," WayneWayne greeted her with a bright smile. He walked over to her and gave her a hug, either ignoring or not noticing the strange look that she was giving him. "What's going on in that pretty little head of yours?" He lightly tugged on one of her pigtails.

"Pretty?" Riley laughed as she leaned back so she could look up at him. She brushed her strand of red hair out of her face. "You didn't even call me that even when we were hanging out."

Dak snorted loudly and she gave him the finger. While Kendall had his eyes set on Lucy for a while, Riley and WayneWayne had started to go out. While both of them knew that it was a long shot that they would stay together, they decided to take the pressure off by not saying that they were dating. The only thing that it did was make things complicated for the two of them as his family already thought that they were dating which they denied, and when they were dating, they claimed that they had broken up, just to get them off of his back. It confused everyone and even WayneWayne and Riley were surprised to find out that they could keep things straight. Not many people knew that they had gone out though, only the two, Dak, Rhuben, and her brothers knew. For two reasons, the first one being that Kendall basically hated WayneWayne and only tolerated him because he was Riley's friend and the second was because it really was no one else's business and she liked to keep her private life private.

"I didn't?" WayneWayne asked, looking confused. He scratched the back of his head. "Are you sure?" He pressed. When Riley shook her head, he looked a little concerned. "Well, that explains why my sisters were always on my case about how to treat a girl."

"No worries there," Rhuben commented. "Unlike most guys now, you know how to treat a girl." She looked over at Dak before looking back over at WayneWayne and giving a sweet smile. "And knowing when to be quiet."

WayneWayne laughed.

"I would have remembered it," Riley said simply. "I remember everything." She then thought for a moment. "Everything that really has nothing to do with school work at least." She quickly corrected herself.

"Hmm, that might not be a good thing for me then." His smile faded a little. "But seriously Tinker Bell, what's up?"

Riley blinked at him blankly. "Did you _seriously_ just call me a shrimpy little hot-headed, pixie?"

"Yes," WayneWayne smiled as Dak and Rhuben laughed. "And I'm glad that you got what I was referring to." He snapped his fingers. "Oh, you saw that story about you and Kendall on Just Jared Jr. didn't you?" He asked. He then noticed that Dak had sat up and was frantically waving his arms, trying to get him to stop talking. "What?"

"You don't think do you?" Rhuben questioned. She shook her head as she looked down at her phone again, using her foot to nudge Dak in the side to get him to stop waving his arms like a lunatic. "You couldn't miss it. Ronan's phone was blowing up with messages from his publicist, we have _Girlfriend_ magazine from home calling to confirm it, and our ScuttleButters and MyFaces have been blowing up."

"I don't see what the big deal is," Riley said calmly. She shrugged as she crossed her arms over her chest before twirling some of her hair around her finger. "It's just a bunch of freakishly stupid fans that are jumping on the bandwagon of something that has been around since our two bands started to work together."

"Yeah, but they didn't have pictures and eye witness events as incriminating as this," Dak pointed out.

"Just drop it! Alright!" Riley snapped, her eyes flashing.

"Hey, I'm ready to go!" Lizzie said cheerfully as she stepped into the room. She paused and lowered her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose. "Whoa, did I miss something important?"

"Not yet." Rhuben's eyes lit up as she got to her feet, tucking her phone into the pocket of her jean shorts. "I just got a text from Ronan; we're going to be performing one of our songs as a musical spot on The Jay Leno show!"

"Wow!" WayneWayne looked impressed.

"Congrats!" Dak smiled.

"Can I come?" Lizzie asked.

"It's going to be so cool!" Riley said, her eyes lighting up as well. "Blink 182 was on it and they did a really good job on it." She started to pace back and forth, speaking rapidly. "Their CD and single sales skyrocketed after their appearance. I wonder what song we're going to do. Would it be off of _Black and White_ or _One Step Closer_? Oh geez, now I have to figure out what we're going to wear. Should we wear matching outfits or reflect our own personality or a combination of both?" She suddenly stopped pacing and pulled the ends of her hair towards her face. "Maybe I should get a haircut."

"Whoa!" WayneWayne held up his hands. "Take a breath and pick a topic!"

Riley stopped talking and merely shrugged. "Sorry," she lowered her gaze to her feet, a troubled expression coming onto her face. "I'm just excited."

"We can talk about it on the way to the mall," Lizzie said. Turning on her heel, she marched towards the front door like a man on a mission. "There's a lot of sales that we're going to miss if we don't get going now."

"And she was the one that was making us late," Dak murmured as he followed his sister.

As the others followed him, Riley could feel WayneWayne's eyes on her. She sighed loudly and looped her arm through his. "Seriously, Dubs, you can be such a worrywart sometimes," she said to him. "And a stick in the mud," she added.

"Just making sure that you're ok," WayneWayne said.

Riley laughed. "Thanks for that. But if I can deal with your crazy family, I think I can deal with a few stupid rumors." She rested her chin on his shoulder. "Trust me. This Jay Leno thing is going to keep my mind off it."

"Anyway." WayneWaye put his hands into his shorts pockets. "How's the bet going? Katie told Lizzie who told us that Kendall is actually winning." He noticed the frustrated pout on Riley's face and laughed. "What? What' sup?"

"I agreed to the stupid bet to scare him _away _from wanting to be a bad boy," she explained. "And for whatever unfathomable reason, he's actually doing a good job. It's so annoying, usually I can think two or three steps ahead of what he's going to do and plan it so things go my way, like I can read his mind, but now he's actually making this hard." She twisted her mouth to the side before smiling evilly. "Which just means that I'm going to have to step it up a little."

"Well, I still think that you're going to win," WayneWayne reassured her.

Riley reached up and mussed his hair. "Thanks, Wally. It makes me wonder why we never worked out."

"Because of my crazy family," WayneWayne reminded her with a light roll of his eyes.

"Yeah." Riley wrinkled her nose for a second. "But during that time, it was worth it."

WayneWayne smiled.

* * *

"Watch it, lady!" Katie ducked behind Kendall as a woman power-walked towards her, looking at her cell phone. She could bet that the woman wasn't even watching where she was going.

Katie stuck her tongue out at the woman as she moved back to Kendall's side and looped her arm through his. The two of them were walking around The Grove, not really planning on doing anything. It was one of the few times that the two of them had hung out since they had gotten to LA, since he was always so busy with his band or some scheme that he managed to fall into. She was enjoying her time, but she wasn't sure if Kendall was, he barely answered any of her questions and didn't even get over-protective when she bought a midriff top, just to see what he would say. She wasn't even going to wear it, but she was surprised that she got away with it.

Kendall didn't seem to even notice that his little sister had almost been murdered by a power-walker. "Yeah, whatever." He muttered his gaze right ahead of him.

Katie sighed loudly as she moved in front of her brother and put her hands on his chest, stopping him. "Ok, why don't you just admit what's _really_ bothering you?" She asked. "Because you hardly noticed that you've been pushed and shoved all day. Just because Riley turned you down to hang out so she could go to the mall with her sister, Dak, and-"

Kendall's green eyes bore back into hers with jealousy and annoyance. "If she wants permission to hang out with a guy I don't like, then fine!" He scowled. "Permission granted."

"She's WayneWayne's friend, too." Katie looked exasperated. "I'm trying to help you out here, bro. People can have more than a few friends if they want. I know that you get possessive about our friends and family, but still, this is ridiculous. They're just friends."

"Like she and I are friends?" Kendall asked.

"Sure, Kendall, sure." Katie rolled her eyes before she sneered. "Like she can really compare the guy that she tried to convince you all isn't a bad guy to someone she's been hanging out with for the last two years."

"Hanging out?" Kendall looked hurt. "That's all we did?"

"No, that's not what I meant!" Katie threw her hands into the air. "Why are you twisting everything I'm saying?" She demanded.

Kendall was silent for a moment. "Fine." He took a deep breath. "Then let me be very clear…" the angry look in his eyes disappeared and he shrugged harmlessly, all the fight draining out of him. "If he's interested in her, then all I can say is he has damn good taste."

Katie blinked once. "Huh?" She asked.

Kendall shook his head. "I don't want to fight with her." He shrugged. "I don't like to fight with any of m best friends." He licked his lips. "Like, when the guys 'moved out' just before we left to go on tour. The idea of not being friends with them anymore-"

"-Over a stupid game, no less," Katie interrupted.

Kendall nodded. "I didn't want that to happen now, too." He shrugged again. "I guess I'm jealous. I mean, yeah, James is good looking and everything, but I still don't like to think that I was being..."

"Replaced?" Katie guessed. "Yeah, I think I get that." She shook her head. "Trust me, Big Brother, no one could you replace you. You irreplaceable." She smirked. "Besides, you have to stay together for the kids." She added, referring to the fans and the rumors that were going around about them. Kendall's laugh gave her butterflies and she tried hard not to beam. She then noticed a couple of girls hovering nearby, giggling at the two of them. _Speak of the devil. _She turned and looked at them sharply. "May I help you?"

"Um." The girls turned to Kendall. "Are you and Riley, dating?" The tallest girl asked. "Is the rumor true?"

Kendall thought hard about how Gustavo or Kelly would instruct him to answer the question. Even if they were dating, unless the two of them thought it would be a good idea for them to announce it, they had to keep up the image that they were single .That's what caused the whole fiasco with Jo at the time. While he and Jo had been dating, they had to keep it quiet for his image. But then the rumor went around that she was with Jett and Gustavo and Kelly got in the middle and things went out of control.

"She and her family are my best buds. Nothing more, nothing less." He gave as friendly as a smile that he could muster, given the circumstances. "And my private business is my private business. And if it were true. I wouldn't deny it because no one deserves to be denied."

"Oh, ok." The girl looked a little disappointed, but then all three of them brightened. "Can we take a picture with you?"

"Sure." Kendall agreed, after getting a nod from Katie. She backed up a step and Kendall put his arms around the girls and waited patiently, offering a bright smile as each person got their picture taken. "Have a good day!" He waved to them before turning back to Katie. "What?" He asked when he noticed the smile on her face.

"Sometimes I think that you should just stay on tour," she commented. Because you're always a _lot_ happier when you're around your fans."

"Are you sure you're not just saying it because I'd bring more money for you and Mom?" Kendall teased.

"That too," Katie said simply. She looked at her watch. "I'm meeting mom to get our nails done." She reached her arms up to give Kendall a hug. He easily lifted her off of the ground as he hugged her back. "Seriously, I love you, Big Brother. But you have to learn to lighten up and not take things so seriously sometimes." She looked hard at him. "She'll turn around; you just have to remember that with what they went through…it takes a while for them to get comfortable with something. But things will work out, I promise."

Kendall set her down on the ground and waited until she was out of sight before he turned on his heel and walked into a small café that was tucked further back on the street. He knew that no one else that he knew would be there and it was the perfect place to not have to worry about being caught.

_Well, it's not even like you're really doing anything wrong. _He tried to reassure himself. He walked into the café and looked around, walking over to a table when he spotted who he was looking for.

"Hey Dad," he greeted him, sliding into the seat across from his father. He laughed when he noticed that his father was so engrossed in his phone. "What are you looking at?" He asked.

Kevin chuckled to himself as he turned the phone around and held it out so Kendall could see. He immediately rolled his eyes when he saw that he was on ScuttleButter, looking through the searches. Some of the ScuttButts had the pictures of him and Riley at the mall as they ran into the bathroom; others had it when they had come back out. Of course the pictures made it seem like something else had been going on. The fact that what he had said to the woman was overhead by someone else didn't help things either. But with the fame that he and his friends had suddenly fallen into, he was getting used to it. He didn't like it, but he was getting used to it.

** KnightsGurl: Hey BigTimeKendall next time you need some company in the bathroom stall, call me! ;)**

** KissyForKendall: I don't care what the haters say, Kendall and Riley were meant to be together. I could tell from the first photo shoot that their bands did together!**

"And those are just the tame ones," Kendall said, giving the phone back.

"Well, I always knew that my son was going to be a ladies' man," Kevin said. He smiled. "But if I do remember correctly, you did have that one friend that seemed to obsess over his looks." His smile widened as Kendall laughed. "So what's the problem here?" He popped a cheese fry into his mouth. "I didn't raise my son to be afraid of telling a girl his feelings for them."

Kendall raised an eyebrow. "Last I checked you didn't have any problems getting Mom to agree to go out with you."

Kevin laughed, his green eyes crinkling in the corners. "That's just what she tells you, it took me three tries of asking her until she said yes." He then gave a modest shrug. "And…let me tell you, I was nervous about it too."

Kendall shook his head as he grabbed the plate of cheese fries and cut it in half with his fork, scooping some onto his own plate. "Hmm, my father who played in the minor leagues and had two hundred pound men bum-rushing him every game, I doubt he would be that nervous over a girl." He smirked at his father.

"You obviously don't know your mother the way I do," Kevin pointed out.

"Trust me, I'm glad I don't." Kendall laughed.

He leaned back in his seat and smiled at his father. If someone told him that after the tour he would be found sitting with his father and having a normal conversation with him, with no weirdness, he wouldn't believe it. The first time that he had met up with his father, it was nothing short of awkward and he didn't stay long. But the more time that he continued to meet with him, he felt more and more relaxed. But was he ready to tell his mother or his sister about meeting up with him? No. Was he ready to tell his friends about it? Definitely not. He couldn't help but feel a little guilty whenever he met with him in secret; he wasn't sure how anyone was going to react to the news. But it was his business and it was his decision, he could deal with whatever would happen.

Right?

"So how have things been going with your band?" Kevin asked, picking at the appetizer. "You have any shows coming up?"

"Just little things here and there." Kendall laced his fingers and rested his elbows on the table. "We just got off of tour so we're waiting for certifications and sales and we're promoting by going to radio stations and picking out singles and stuff." He shrugged. "Mostly taking a quick break and hanging out." He paused as he looked around. "What about you?" Kevin must have noticed that it was a loaded question. "Any good cases? Talk to any of your clients soon?"

Kevin paused for a moment. "I don't talk to any of my clients after I win or lose a case," he said slowly. "I feel that it's better to leave the past in the past."

"Oh really?" Kendall raised an eyebrow.

"Look." Kevin put down his fork. "I know that you're still upset with everything that went on with our family, but I was young and stupid and didn't know what I wanted." He pointed at his son. "But trust me, now I'm here to stay."

Kendall studied him for a long moment. "If you say so," He replied before changing the subject.

* * *

Kendall awoke at that night to the feeling of an ice cold hand clamp down on his arm. He shot up and shifted back in his bed, before calming down when his eyes adjusted. Riley was standing by his bed, looking down at him with a smirk on her face. Kendall had to think for a moment to be sure that he wasn't still dreaming. He then adjusted the covers over his lap, just in case. He didn't want a repeat of what had happened when Katie went to wake him and Logan up, not knowing what typically happened to a guy in the morning. He knew he wouldn't hear the end of it if it happened now.

"I didn't mean to scare you, Hockey-Head." Riley snickered.

"You didn't," Kendall denied. He yawned before looking at his watch. "What are you doing here?" Another thought then struck him. "Wait, how did you even get in here?"

Riley sat down at the end of his bed by his feet. "Mama Knight and Ronan exchanged keys to your guys' crib and our house just in case there's an emergency." She gave him a knowing look. "Though I think it was for a different reason than that." She patted his foot. "Anyway, get up and get your shoes on."

"Where are we going?" Kendall asked.

"You'll see," Riley said mysteriously. "Just get them on and come on." She paused and then studied him, a condescending look on her face. "Don't tell me that you've never snuck out before."

"I have," Kendall denied. He pushed back the covers and quietly got out of his bed, making sure that his movements didn't wake up Logan, who was still sleeping soundly in his own bed. "Just not without a reason before. Last time was to challenge the guys from Duluth to a hockey game after they called us out for being wusses."

"Oooh, how dangerous." Even in the dim lighting Kendall could tell that she was rolling her eyes. "Sneaking out to play hockey." She stood up and tilted her head to the side. "Seriously, Hockey-Head, you don't know how to live."

Kendall ignored her jab as he finished pulling on his jeans. He buttoned them and quickly pulled on a shirt before grabbing his wallet and some flip-flops. He would have gotten some sneakers, but he didn't want her to wait anymore. He walked with her out of the apartment and they snuck quietly through the dark lobby, hoping that Bitters wouldn't wake up for a midnight snack, and then got into her car. Riley pulled out of the parking lot and drove for about twenty minutes before she pulled up to what looked like an abandoned building. Kendall followed her out of the car and around the side of the building.

"Where are we?" He asked in a low voice.

"You'll see." Riley grabbed onto a small ladder that was at the side of the building and quickly climbed up it. Kendall followed her and when they got onto the roof, he walked over to her as she pointed down. "Check it out." She said.

Kendall peered over the side and his eyebrows rose when he saw a large pool sitting below them. He looked around and noticed a high fence surrounded the pool, which is what made them have to climb onto the roof in the first place. If they had tried to climb over the fence, it would have taken too long.

"What's the occasion?" He asked her.

"Nothing." Riley shrugged. "I just thought that we'd have some fun. We haven't had fun without the bet looming over our heads in a while." She scratched the side of her neck. "I was starting to miss it." She looked at him. "Haven't you?"

"Of course." Kendall nodded. His eyes narrowed a little as he looked at her. "Is something wrong?" He asked. "You seem a little weird."

"I was going to ask you the same thing, honestly." Riley quickly switched the subject back to him. "You've, kind of been distracted for a while. And I don't know if it's that I'm just noticing it now, but you seem kind of jumpy, too."

Kendall thought hard about how he was going to answer the question. He couldn't tell her about seeing his Dad; he knew that nothing good would come out of it. Especially since he was the one that tried to defend her own father against the abuse trial. He shook his head. No, the smart thing to do was to deny it, he knew that much.

"Nah, just distracted with school and stuff," he replied.

"Please." Placing her hands on her hips, Riley looked a little annoyed. "I like you enough to realize when there's something going on with you." A few seconds passed and a slight look of horror crossed her face. "That's not what I meant!" She said quickly.

"But it's what you said," Kendall replied. "And you do say that you mean 90% of the things you say."

"But it's not what I meant!"

"But it's what you said!" He then laughed lightly, letting her off the hook. "Nah, nothing's wrong." He looked over at Riley and could tell from the way that she was looking at him that she didn't believe him. But she didn't press him on it and he was glad.

He watched as Riley turned back to the pool, looking down at it. An unrecognizable look was on her face, almost like she was sad. "Night swimming deserves a quiet night and luckily for us, that's what we've got here." She bent down and started to take off her shoes and socks. She then unbuckled the belt that she had on over her shorts and tossed it aside. She then noticed the stunned look on Kendall's face and crossed her arms over her chest, looking smug. "You afraid or something?"

Kendall crossed his own arms, trying not to blush. "Don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not the one getting all hot and bothered about swimming in my underwear," Riley pointed out. "Besides, it's not like I haven't seen yours before. I style you guys enough to specifically know what kind of underwear each of you prefers."

Kendall leaned over to look at the pool below them once more. "This is crazy," he breathed.

"That's the point," Riley remarked. "If life doesn't make you crazy then, why bother living it? I know that's how I want it. Live fast and die young, y'know?" She took off her shorts and shirt so she was standing in her underwear. She looked over the edge again, gathering her things and dropping it to the ground by the pool's edge. "Just a tip…don't land on the concrete." She turned around so her feet were on the edge of the roof and jumped, doing a back flip into the water.

Kendall kicked off his flip-flops and pulled off his shirt. "What'll beat that?" He asked, removing his wallet, phone, and keys from his shorts.

"Umm." Riley treaded water as she thought about her, her shoulder length hair fanned in the water around her. "Probably a double front flip. But coming from a simple jump." She brought her hands up out of the water and smoothed her hair back. "Like that parkour stuff that you've been doing with Sydney."

"Right." Kendall nodded. He took a step back and then moved forward. He planted his feet firmly on the roof's edge and swung his arms down, using the momentum as he jumped to do a double front flip into the water below him. When he came up for air, Riley was giving him an exaggerated wince.

"Sloppy entry, Hockey-Head, I'm going to have to dock you some points." She said. "Which makes me win by default." She added with a gloating smile. She watched Kendall's chest rise and fall, glistening under the moonlight. Being in LA had tanned his skin lightly so his skin was bronzed, his chest well defined. She wondered how often he worked out when he wasn't working with Patrick. She knew that James was at the gym almost constantly, but wasn't sure about the others. Probably not.

Riley sneaked a glance at his face to see whether or not she noticed that she had been looking. He'd probably think that she was checking him out or something. Which she hadn't been. Well, not too much.

"You're awful," Kendall said, his competitiveness making him annoyed. He reached out a hand and unexpectedly sent a splash of water at her face, thinking he was funny.

"Knock it off!" Riley sputtered

Kendall did it again, snorting a little.

"Stop it!" came her Riley's high-pitched bark. "You're messing up my hair."

"Yeah, because that hairdo is so hard to recreate," Kendall replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Why do girls care so much about their hair anyway?" He let out a cry when Riley surged forward and placed her hands on Kendall's head, pushing him under the water. He bent his knees and kneeled down, turning around at the same time. Riley swam towards the other end of the pool, obviously trying to get out of harm's way. He swam after her and grabbed onto her foot, pulling her back before he grabbed her into his arms and lifted her out of the water. He shook his hair out of his face when he popped up with her.

"Ta-da," He sang.

"Yeah, that's a great feat," Riley raised an eyebrow. "You're able to pick me up when I weigh, like, zero point two pounds in the water." She had her arms crossed over her chest, but didn't make a move to get out of his arms. He smiled slightly. "Nice swimming by the way, I liked how you combined your kicking and flailing."

"You make me sound so graceful," Kendall joked.

"Like a butterfly." Riley smiled.

Kendall briefly looked towards the sky before he threw Riley into the water in front of him. She let out a shriek before she hit the water, coming up sputtering. She glared at him before swimming over to the pool's edge and grabbing a pool raft that was sitting on the concrete. She put it in the pool and pulled herself half out of the water, resting her arms on the raft. Kendall swam over and lifted himself up onto the other side. The two treaded water, their legs gently brushing against each other.

"So, we can talk about anything right?" He asked.

Riley looked at him for a moment and then chuckled, shaking her head. "You know, honestly, sometimes I don't believe that's true." Kendall gave her a hurt look and then she clarified. "For example, if I asked, you would probably never tell me how many times a day, and at what time of day, you walk your dog."

Kendall immediately got what she was referring to. But he didn't feel embarrassed about it in the slightest. He wasn't sure if it was because he really _was_ taking the things he was learning by being a bad boy to heart, or if it was just because he really did feel that comfortable with her. "Usually in the mornings," he said as if it were an offhand comment. "With Zoey Deschanel."

"Interesting." Riley crossed her arms, leaning forward slightly. "Frankly, I'm surprised you answered, but interesting. Anyway, why'd you ask?"

Kendall took a breath. "If I ever asked you out? What would your response be?"

Riley didn't even have to think about her answer. "Let's just say I wouldn't laugh and leave it at that." She then smirked. "Besides, I don't see why you would waste your time on me when you have hundreds-"she paused for am moment. "-no, make that _thousands _of girls that are chasing after you. Most of which that wish that you could take them into a toilet stall any day of the week."

Kendall laughed, hard. "That was your idea, remember?"

"So I panicked. It was the first thing that I could think of."

"Rather than a dressing room, you mean?"

"That would just make things even worse, don't you think?"

Riley let go of the raft and floated on her back, looking directly at the sky. Her fingers lightly trailed through the water as she closed her eyes, letting the feeling of the water against her body take her over. She loved the water; it was almost like a second home. Having grown up and lived in places where she could constantly go to the beach, it helped keep her sane for the most part. If she wasn't surfing in the water, she would take out her board and just lay or sit on top of it, taking the time to think.

"Maybe, maybe not," she finally replied. She opened her eyes before turning around and pushing off the wall and gliding back towards him. "It might help you bad boy image now. Besides, it's hard to believe that one of you guys hasn't taken advantage of it."

"Never." Kendall shook his head. "We're too nice."

"That won't help you," Riley remarked. She climbed back onto the raft. "Besides, if you're a guy in the industry…you should get used to rumors like that. Or any rumors at all, really."

"Thanks for the heads up," Kendall said. "Honestly, I don't even know why people want to make rumors." He gave a half smile. "We're not interesting enough for people to care."

"I could have told you that." Riley shivered as a light wind blew and hunched her shoulders up towards her ears. Kendall rested his elbows on the edge of the raft and wrapped his forearms around hers to keep her warm.

"Yeah, but you like me enough, so..." Kendall trailed off, teasing her.

"Ugh!" Riley looked beyond annoyed at this point. "That's not what I _meant_!"

"But it's what you _said!" _Kendall reached a hand into the water and splashed her, causing her to laugh and splash him back. Resulting in a mini-water fight.

"Oh!" Riley's eyes lit up. "Did I tell you about Jay Leno?"

"Don't think so," Kendall replied.

He couldn't help the smile that was on his face. The two of them hadn't had a conversation that this in a long time. Where they could talk about anything and just have fun and not worry about what other people thought or what was really going on in their lives that were troubling them. Not that he minded having serious conversations, he just liked being to be silly and have fun with her just as much as they were serious with each other.

Riley and Kendall passed the time thumb wrestling as they talked quietly with each other, just enjoying each other's company. They had been talking about the upcoming Jay Leno show when Riley threw her hands up, aggravated. "You cheated." She accused after another loss.

Kendall was adamant. "I did not."

"Yes you did!" Riley insisted. "You're hiding your thumb behind your knuckles, waiting to attack."

"So?" Kendall asked.

"So, that's cheating. Number one rule of the game. No hiding of the thumb." Riley stuck her nose in the air and turned her head away.

"You're just mad that I beat you and you can't handle that I'm better than you." Kendall teased.

"Yeah, that's it." Riley tilted her head back and looked up at the moon.

Kendall followed her gaze. The moon was completely full, illuminating the area around them. The stars were out and they twinkled against the dark sky. It was so clear that Kendall could see the milky way, the big and little dipper, and even the North Star. It He lowered his gaze and watched Riley, as he had been doing a lot for a little over a year. What would a slow, lingering kiss feel like there in the pool, under the moonlight with the cool water stroking their skin?

The two continued to lean on the raft together, enjoying the silence. He wanted to tell her how he felt, but he was afraid she'd run away. He was sure that this was the right time; it was nothing short of romantic. Having a good time together, he moon light, the ambience, everything. He looked over at her, she had her head tilted back and was looking at the moon above them. He could see the tiny freckles that dotted her nose that you would only notice if you were really close, she had a small smile on her face. Kendall reached over and brushed her hair out of her face. She turned her head toward him a little, as if not willing to look away from the moon. He gently touched her neck, just behind her earlobe. Riley tilted her head down and looked right at him. He leaned forward a little, and she responded, leaning towards him as well, tilting her head, letting her lips relax. He leaned forward a bit more, and jerked back when he heard a clanging sound.

"What was tha-"

Riley shot out a hand and slapped it over his mouth as she listened hard. When she heard the sound again, her eyes widened and she pulled her hand back. "Quick!" She started to push the raft over to the side of the pool. "How long can you hold your breath?"

"I don't know." Kendall leaned to the side and started to scissor kick, helping her move the raft to the side of the pool. "Like, a little over a minute, I think."

"Good." Riley sucked in a deep breath and held her nose before sinking underwater.

Kendall did the same. When he slid underwater, Riley motioned for him to move underneath the raft. As he did so, he tilted his head back to look up towards the surface of the water. As he watch, a shimmering shape of someone walking around the pool reached his eyes. He squinted when he saw a pale light move over the top of the water. He slowly kicked his legs underneath him, waiting for the person to finish searching and leave the pool. He turned his head and looked at Riley, who was floating beside him. She looked completely serene as she waited for the person to go away. Kendall could start to feel the middle of his chest start to burn.

As if sensing his discomfort, Riley reached out and grabbed onto his hand, squeezing it gently. She used her free hand to hold up a finger, letting him know to wait a little bit longer. Finally, she tugged on his hand before pushing the raft away and the two bobbed to the surface of the water. Kendall took a gulp of air, pushing his hair out of his face.

"That was close," he remarked.

"You're telling me," Riley agreed. "Usually they don't come around for another hour." She paused for a moment. "We should probably go before he comes back."

"Good idea." Kendall swam over to the side of the pool and lifted himself out. He then turned around and held his hands out towards Riley. She lifted her hands and he grabbed onto them, easily pulling her out of the pool and into his arms with one pull. He smiled as she flushed and quickly pulled away before leading him back over to their clothes. They quickly gathered them up into their arms. "How are we going to get out if we came in by the roof?"

"Over here." Riley tilted her head and quickly walked around the far side of the building they had used the roof to get in. "You can climb back up onto the roof and back down the ladder or go this way." She pushed a large cardboard box away from the wall revealing a large hole in the fence. "You can only go out this way because it's so close to the street. If you go in this way, you'll get caught too easily and no one expects you to use the roof."

"How'd you find the place?" Kendall asked as he slowly squeezed through the hole, making sure that he didn't get caught on the fence.

"My brothers, sister, and I found it shortly after we came to LA the first time." Riley explained. "No one else really knows it's here since we're the only ones that know what turns to take to get here." The two hurried over to Riley's car and she popped the trunk, taking out two large towels. "It's a good thing I like to go to the beach so much." She said to herself, quickly drying herself off.

"Tonight was really cool," Kendall said as he dried himself off as fast as he could, just in case the guy was going to come around again. "You were right; we hadn't really hung out like that in a while." He looked over his shoulder. "And it was nice to swim in a pool bigger than the PalmWoods," he added with a laugh.

Riley ran a hand through her hair. "You should come over to our house more often then," Riley remarked. She took her towel and threw it into the trunk of her car before pulling her clothes back on. She then took Kendall's towel and threw it into the trunk.

"You guys never invite us over," Kendall pointed out.

"Yeah, well." She shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "We never could back then." She went around to the driver's side of the car. "C'mon, I'll get you back to the PalmWoods."

"D'you mind stopping for some food first?" Kendall asked as he got into the passenger seat of the car, slamming the door shut. "I'm starving."

"That depends," Riley said slowly as she buckled up and stuck her keys into the ignition. "Would you give me judgmental looks if I don't go to whole foods?"

"Only if you eat a bunch of greasy junk." Kendall smiled.

"Maccas it is then!" Riley declared, turning on the car.

Kendall laughed loudly as she put the car in drive and made a U-Turn, driving away from the abandoned building and the pool area. She pulled up to a red light and turned on the radio, bobbing her head lightly to the classic rock that was being played.

"Thanks," Kendall said quietly. He reached out and brushed some of her stringy hair out of her face before leaning over and giving her a gentle kiss on the cheek. He then settled back into his seat as if nothing happened.

"You're welcome." Riley rested her elbow against the door and ran her fingers through her hair. A soft smile was on her face. "Boofhead."

* * *

**A/N: **So, what'd you think? ;)

Cheers,

-Riles


	8. I've been right there for every minute

**.:Chapter 08:.**

_Now you've done it. You've gone and done something on an impulse because you wanted to express things that were going on with you without saying it outright. But for you, it works. Take that feeling of accomplishment and turn it into a soufflé. Just be careful when you take it out of the oven, it doesn't take much for it to deflate._

* * *

Kendall sat down on the player's bench as he looked out across the ice of the Melrose Rink Plaza. His blonde hair was matted to his forehead with sweat, his cheeks and nose were rosy, and sweat was dripping down his face into the collar of the t-shirt that he was wearing under his hockey jersey. Beside him, his phone buzzed with a text. He briefly glanced at the screen, already knowing who it was, but checking just in case.

It was Katie.

It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to her; it was that he didn't want to get into another fight with her. They hardly fought as it was, so when he snapped at her and stormed off, he knew that he couldn't go back for a while, not without feeling guilty. That's what found him at the hockey rink that day, usually he only went to clear his head, this time, he was trying to get his anger and frustration out before he went back home and apologized to his sister.

"What's wrong, Kendall?" Katie had asked when Kendall walked out into the main area of their crib in the PalmWoods apartments.

Kendall had planned on going to see his father that day, so the two of them could go to a Angels game. He never cared for baseball, but he wanted to spend time with him. But then his father had called and said that he had a trial that he had to work on and that they had to reschedule. He didn't think that it would bother him as much as it would, but it was probably because he was feeling guilty of keeping it quiet from everyone for so long that was starting to catch up to him.

So he didn't mean anything by it when he snapped at Katie. "Nothing! Nothing's, wrong!"

"Yes, there is." Katie put her laptop aside and got to her knees, resting her arms on the back of the couch. She turned her hazel eyes to her brother and looked at him seriously. "I can tell. I can see it in your face." Kendall sucked in a breath through his nose, staying silent. "I can _always_ see it in your face. You've been like that…since Dad left…"

"What are you talking about?" Kendall whipped his head to face her.

Katie took a deep breath; she could tell that Kendall was getting angrier. His fingers twitched at his sides and he was breathing deeply through his nose. If anyone ever said that Kendall was good at keeping his cool, they obviously hadn't seen him for what he really was. He was pretty good at hiding things that were bothering him, so he could focus on helping someone else, but whenever he was feeling emotional or vulnerable, or was frustrated, he couldn't hide it from anyone. He prided himself on being level-headed, but he had a tendency to fly off the handle at points as well.

"I'm…just saying that since Dad left, you seem to get angry pretty easily, especially if someone…is giving your friends a hard time." Katie swallowed thickly. "Like, that time that you beat up that guy because he was making fun of Carlos for being so sensitive."

Kendall raised an eyebrow.

"And the time that you threatened to beat up a guy that was bullying Logan. No one wanted to mess with you after that. They're also afraid of giving you bad news, because they can always see in your face that you're upset and they don't want-"

"You don't know what you're talking about, Katie." Kendall interrupted. He went over to the closet and jerked the door open so hard that it flew into the wall behind it and smacked a small hole where the doorknob was. He ignored it as he started to look for his hockey gear.

"Wearing your heart on your sleeve means that your feelings are there for everyone to see." Katie said quickly, watching as he struggled to pull his hockey stick out of the closet as it got tangled up with some hangers. "It's not a bad thing at all, Big Brother. It just means that you don't hide what you feel and your emotions are easy to read." She started to get off of the couch. "I just want to know what's wrong. Maybe I can hel-"

"Just leave me alone, Katie! God!" Kendall slammed the closet door shut and stormed out of the apartment, his hockey bag over his shoulder with his ice skates and his hockey stick in one hand.

He slammed that door behind him as well.

Kendall sighed as he leaned forward and rested his face in his hands. He didn't mean to yell at her like that. It was over something really stupid too, she just wanted to know if he was ok, and he just took his frustration out on her. He probably made her cry. That thought completely ripped his heart out. The last time he had seen her cry was when their Dad left. He hadn't seen her cry since, and the idea that he was the one that did it made him hate himself even more. He wanted to go back and apologize, but he wasn't sure if she would accept it. He didn't know why he got so mad over what she was saying, he had been told many times by James, Logan, Carlos, even his own mother, that they could always read his emotions, because he was that kind of person. He was always open with whatever he was thinking, so it was just natural that his face and body language would be open about his emotions as well.

It just wasn't the "manly thing" to do as he understood it. Men were supposed to be the kind of guys that would surprise you with their strength and what they were feeling. They weren't ever supposed to talk about it or show it. That's one of the selling pints of hockey was to him, he was able to get his anger out, to clear his head, and he got away with hitting other people while he was at it.

"I knew I'd find you here, Hockey-Head."

Kendall didn't turn as Riley sat down on the hockey bench next to him, straddling it as she faced him. "Did Katie tell you that I was here?" He asked quietly, wiping sweat off of his forehead and rubbing them on the legs of his jeans.

"Hello?" Riley reached out and lightly knocked her knuckles on the side of Kendall's head. "How many times do I have to tell you this before you actually hear me?" She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head to the side. "You're way too predictable."

Kendall shook his head, resting his arms on his legs as he hunched forward, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. "I'm not in the mood for this."

"Uh-oh," Riley sat up straight, her arms still crossed over her chest. "Something's definitely up, you're never really in the mood for me to make fun of you, but you've never actually said it to me before." She tapped her chin. "I'm guessing you got into a fight with Katie?" Kendall looked at her in astonishment and she shrugged modestly. "I just put two and two together after you looked so bummed and you asked if Katie told me that you were here." She made a sound. "Plus, I was doing homework with Logie and she wasn't acting like herself." She looked at him curiously, leaning her arm on his thigh. "What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Kendall started to take off his gloves. "It's stupid anyway." He cracked his knuckles. "Don't you have a baseball game to watch or something?"

"Yes," Riley said. "But no one likes to watch with me, they don't like it much, so I usually just watch it on my computer or on a spare TV. But I get the updates on my phone." She leaned forward, resting her arms on her legs. "It must be serious if you don't want to talk." She gave a half smile. "This is the first time you _haven't_ wanted to talk to me."

Kendall gave a half-smile too. "Like I said, I don't want to talk about it."

Riley respected his answer and waited as he slowly continued to take off his gear. He pulled off his hockey jersey and started to pull off the padding that was underneath. His mind was wandering as he thought about that phrase. Wearing his heart on his sleeve… Like Katie said, it wasn't a bad thing and he had been told numerous times that he did it. _Maybe I should just embrace it as someone that I am. It's not like I should be ashamed of it. Then people wouldn't know to leave me alone if I'm ever in a bad mood. _Kendall chuckled a little as his lips curled into an amused half smile. _Carlos would know when to stop bugging me, that's for sure._

"I should get a tattoo." Kendall murmured to himself. He wasn't being serious in the slightest; he was reminded of something that his mother said once. He was young and angry at her because she said that he couldn't stay up to watch a game on ESPN. She had made the comment saying that he should just tattoo the words _I'm Angry_ on his forehead, because he was trying so hard to hide it.

"What?" Riley asked, leaning closer to him, not sure if he had said something.

"I said I should get a tattoo." Kendall said louder. "Everyone says that I wear my heart on my sleeve, maybe I should just go ahead and get that." He stayed silent for a few moments and then looked over at Riley, who looked back at him with an odd look in her eyes. Kendall then looked down at his hockey gear and then lifted his head as he thought about it. "You know what, I really should. I should get a tattoo."

"You're going to get a tattoo?" Riley repeated. She looked a little impressed, just a tiny bit, but more curious than that. "You? Kendall Knight?"

"Yes," Kendall nodded firmly, his mind completely made up. "I'm going to get a tattoo." He started to stuff his things into his hockey bag. "I've always been interested in them, but was never sure what to get. Now I know."

"Don't you think that you should decide this when you're, I don't know, _not_ PMSing?" Riley cracked. Kendall ignored her dig and continued to fill his bag before reaching for his skates. "Ok," Riley licked her lips, now completely unconvinced. "You do know that in California you have to be at least 18 to get a tattoo, right? Even then, you still need your parent's permission until you're twenty-one."

Kendall frowned for a moment. He hadn't thought about that. It only took him a moment to think if over before he shook his head. That didn't matter; he was going to do this. "I don't care; I'll find a way to get them to give me one without mom's permission. She'll be _pissed_," he said truthfully. "But I'm doing it anyway."

Riley was silent for a moment. "Well, it's a good thing you have me around then."

"Why?"

Riley wordlessly reached into her back pocket and pulled out her red and white, flower printed wallet. She opened it and flipped a few dollar bills out of the way and then pulled a folded up white sheet of paper out of the back. Sticking the paper in her mouth, she folded her wallet up and put it back into her pocket. Kendall watched as she took the paper out of her mouth and unfolded it before turning it around and handing it to him.

Kendall scanned it quickly, looking over the names and signatures that were written all over the page. He lifted his eyes to meet hers and she sighed again, knowing that he didn't understand what they were for.

"I forged your mom's signature," she explained. "We needed it in case we had to go to the doctor back when Robert was still around, they caught on quickly that we were forging Ronan's signature. And since we were working with you we figured that it would fit." she trailed off as she took the paper back from him.

Kendall nodded, shocked into silence.

"If you really want to get that tattoo, I could…"

Kendall couldn't help but laugh incredulously. "You're willing to help me lie just so I can get a tattoo?"

Riley shrugged. "If it's what you really want, then I don't see why you shouldn't get it." Her eyes flashed with mischief. "Besides, I thought you were supposed to be the bad boy."

Kendall's lips curved into a smirk as well. "Who said I wasn't?" He asked with a false bravado. Riley leaned forward and grabbed his Vans from his bag and handed them to him as he got his skates off of his feet. He took them and quickly pulled them on, not bothering to tighten them before he stood up, grabbing his bag and stick. "Come on."

"Do you know what tattoo parlor you're going to go to, Eyebrows?" Riley asked as she stood up. Kendall noticed that her nose was red and briefly wondered why she wasn't complaining about the cold like she usually did.

"No." Kendall started to climb up the bleachers to leave the rink.

"Do you know what colors you want?"

"No."

"Do you know how you're going to hide it from your family until it heals?'

"No."

Riley hurried after him and grabbed onto his arm. "Maybe we should talk about this first." She peered at him as she thought for a minute. "Did you walk here?"

"I took the bus." Kendall said.

"Ok, then after we talk, to be sure that this is what you really want, then I'll drive you over to the parlor myself. Deal?" She stuck out her hand.

Kendall grinned and grabbed onto it. "Deal." He looked at her and then looked out on the ice. "Actually, since you're doing this for me, I'm going to get you over your stupid thing with hockey." He grabbed onto his hockey stick and held it out to her.

Riley shook her head once. "No."

"Yes," Kendall grabbed onto her arm and dragged her out on the ice, their shoes making them slip slightly. "All you have to do is get one goal." He instructed, thrusting the stick at her again. "It's not hard, and you don't have to worry, I'm not going to smash you into the boards."

"You better not, Hockey-Head." Riley warned him, hesitantly taking the stick. She eyed it warily before holding it in both of her hands. She then gently placed it onto the ice as Kendall went back to his bag to get a hockey puck. "So what do I do?" She asked.

"Just follow everything I tell you," Kendall instructed. He placed the puck on the ice in front of Riley's stick and backed up a few paces. "Ok, so just take the puck down to the goal and take a shot." He said. He gave an encouraging nod when Riley hesitantly looked at him again. She let out a sigh and started across the ice, holding onto the stick. "Head up!" He called helpfully, noticing that she kept her gaze on her shoes, probably to keep from falling. She wasn't moving that quickly either. "Head up!"

"How can I keep my head up and look at the puck at the same time?" Riley asked, already sounding exasperated. She slowed to a snail's pace as she carefully lifted her head. "And I feel like I'm going to fall every time I take a step!"

"Forget that!" Kendall waved a hand. "Feel the puck, on your stick." He said helpfully.

"I _am _feeling the puck!" Riley snapped back, not being one that liked being told what to do. She stopped and stabbed the air with her stick. "Slipping Away!" She threw her free hand into the air as she scowled. "Who invented this insane game, anyway?"

"Apparently the same people that want to torture you," Kendall laughed. He then gave an exaggerated thumbs up. "But you're doing great."

"Really?" Riley matched his sarcastic tone with a sneer. "Thanks." When she dropped the stick back down to the ice, she managed to hit the puck, causing it to slide away from her and towards the boards.

"Chase the puck!" Kendall called, his voice echoing over the empty arena. "Chase it!"

Riley gave him the finger. "_You_ fucking chase it," she declared, pointing at the puck with her stick. He could tell from looking at her that she wasn't going to budge. "You're the hockey player!"

"Penalty!" Kendall placed his hands on his hips. From the smile that was on his face, Riley could tell that he was enjoying this a little too much. Oh yeah, he was enjoying it. It was one of the few times that he could be the one that barked the orders and treated someone badly, just like Gustavo did to them. Of course he wasn't going to be as bad as Gustavo, but it was still nice. "Unsportsmanlike conduct, giving her hockey instructor verbal abuse without adequate provocation, called on Jackson-" Riley glared at Kendall and he smiled. "Excuse me, _Jackson-McGuire_, for Sydney, Australia." He pointed to the side. "To the penalty box, for two minutes. Now!"

Riley's mouth dropped open in shock. "You _can't_ be serious." She tightened her grip on the hockey stick.

"You see, one of your many problems is that you think you know me far better than you actually know me. " Kendall grinned, crossing his arms over his chest, using her words against her. "Because, as it happens, I'm being entirely serious."

"Hey!" Riley stomped her foot on the ice. "You can't use my snark against me, I copyrighted it!" She turned and walked over to the puck that was sitting harmlessly on the ice. "I'm sick of this game! I'm sick of the cold! I'm sick of you! And I'm sick and _tired_ of your fucking _obsession_ with this FUCKING SPORT!" She smacked the hockey stick down onto the puck and watched as it went flying into the goal. She turned back around with a smug smile on her face. "How was that?"

"Not bad." Kendall shrugged.

"Not bad?" Riley lifted her chin and gave a toothy smile. "I rocked and you know it." She was practically glowing.

"You were adequate," Kendall said. He wanted to knock her ego down a peg or two, even though he knew that she was joking.

She tossed the stick to the ice and pointing her thumbs at herself before resting her hands on her hips. "I was ace."

"I liked you better when you were unsure of yourself," Kendall teased. "You didn't have as big a ego."

"Bull," Riley contradicted him. "You probably like me more now." Her smile was infectious. "After my amazing goal." She then raised an eyebrow as she pointed at him. "And I don't have an ego."

"You wish." Kendall laughed.

She laughed before looking at her watch. "It's getting late. We should go now."

Kendall tucked his hands into his jeans pockets. "All right."

* * *

"Could we get two virgin Fuzzy Navels? Thanks." Riley asked the waiter that stood over her and Kendall, snatching the menu from Kendall's hand. She passed it over to the waiter before reaching into her pocket to place a few dollar bills on the table. "I never understood why Americans like to pay tips." She muttered under her breath.

After ignoring Kendall's constant 'thank you's' of her offering to drive him, she decided to stop at a small restaurant before they went to the tattoo parlor. There were a lot of things that he needed to know about getting a tattoo; most of it had to do with his public image as well as to how fans were going to respond to it. If he and the other boys lost fans over something as stupid as they cutting their hair, then he could lose fans over getting a tattoo. And then there was going to be the backlash from the parents and everything…It was bad enough the things that were swirling about them now, but with that added on it to, she wasn't sure if he could handle it.

"They don't do that in Australia?" Kendall asked as he leaned back in his seat in defeat. He wasn't going to get that menu back; he noted as he watched the waiter walk away.

"No," Riley shook her head. "You get paid by the hour or whatever your wages are, and you just give friendly service with a smile. We don't tip. Never really saw the point." She leaned back in her seat, brushing her hair out of her face. "Now, why do you want to get a tattoo?"

"How come I can't get something to eat?" Kendall asked, his stomach growling as he waited a waitress walk by, carrying two plates of steak.

"If you really want to get a tattoo, I don't want your nerves to get the better of you." Riley said calmly as she crossed her legs. "Full stomach plus nerves don't equal a very great tattooing experience." The corner of her mouth twitched up. "I know that from experience."

"Good to know," Kendall stretched his legs out underneath the table, resting his hands on his stomach. "What made you get a tattoo?"

"Two reasons," Riley held her right hand up in the peace sign. "One, because I love tattoos, and two, because it pissed off my dad." She said, speaking of her then foster father, Robert Jackson. She paused. "I guess I like the idea of the permanence of tattoos. A tattoo is something that nobody could ever take from you, that you would have with you wherever you went, that you would have until the day you died. They were eternally _yours_."

Kendall nodded. "Yeah, I guess I understand that." He shrugged. "It goes with your image as well." Riley gave a short salute, letting him know that he was partially right. With her and her siblings' (Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney) band, the DarkElements, being in the rock genre of music (alternative, heavy metal, scream, hard, pop, punk, etc.) he wasn't _that_ surprised when he first met them to know that they had tattoos. All five of them had barbed wire tattooed around their right ankle, he was impressed when he first saw them, but was even more impressed when he found out that they had more of them. "How many do you have now?" He asked.

"Barbed wire on my foot, a nautical star on my hip, a fireball on my right shoulder, and a black dragon under that." She said, showing off each one. "Right after we got our first tattoos together, the first thing that we did when we got home was look at them in the mirror. After that, we got pretty hooked and got some more." She squinted an eye shut as she thought for a moment. "Though, I think, so far, I have the most."

"You like tattoos that much, huh?" Kendall laughed.

"Oh yeah," Riley agreed with a joking tone. "Tattoos are a real turn on for me." She smiled and thanked the waiter as he came back with their drinks and quickly took a sip. She swallowed and then looked at him seriously. "Alright, why do you _really_ want to get a tattoo?"

Kendall took a sip of his Fuzzy Naval and thought about it as he allowed the slush-liquid mixture to melt on his tongue. He swallowed it and continued to stay silent as he thought about it. There were a lot of reasons why, what would be the best answer for that question?

"'Cause, frankly, I think that this is a really stupid idea if you don't have a meaning or a reasoning behind it," Riley continued, breaking him out his thoughts. "But you can be a boofhead, Hockey-Head, so I don't really see how I'm surprised by that."

_Well, that was a complete 180. _Kendall rolled his eyes. "Don't hold back, Riles, tell me how you really feel."

"Only because I don't think that you've thought through what the repercussions are going to be," Riley said helpfully. "I mean, we already established your mom is going to be pissed. My brothers and sister will love it, I can tell you that much. James might be jealous because he didn't get it first, and I think Logan will worry. Carlos won't really care. But your main problem, Kendall, is Gustavo and Kelly as well as your fans." She shook her head. "Though it's part of our image, we got a lot of backlash when we got our tattoos. People said that we were sinners, we were going to hell, that we were setting a bad example. It'll be worse since you're a pop star and you're supposed to have this squeaky clean image."

"That's a load of bullshit," Kendall said seriously. "Besides, who cares what those people think? It's not their life, it's mine."

"Wow," Riley looked impressed as she smirked at him. "So you finally cursed." She brushed her strand of red hair behind her ear. "Have you thought about infections?"

"I'm sure Logan will help make sure whatever body part I get tattooed doesn't fall off," Kendall said. He was a bit worried about it, though. He had seen a documentary on TV how someone had gotten a tattoo and it had gotten infected very fast. Granted, it was because the person got it from their friend in the basement when they were drunk. He knew that Logan would help him though, no matter how freaked he would be at first, Logan would make sure that Kendall was doing everything right to be sure that his tattoo healed properly.

Riley finished her drink and pushed the glass away from her. "Well, tattoos cost anywhere from fifty bucks on up, so if you need help paying for it, then I won't mind as long as you pay me back."

Kendall looked at her skeptically. "You're going to help me pay for it?"

Riley shrugged. "You said that you're serious about it. If you really are, then I have problem with it. Now," she leaned forward and held up her right hand, black studded wrist band shinning as she did so. "Are you sure that you're going to go through with this?"

Kendall thought about it once more, weighing the pros and cons in his head. He slowly smiled and then nodded as he sat up straight. "Yeah, I'm going to go through with it!"

"Beauty!" Riley cheered and gave him a high-five. "Let's go right now."

* * *

"So what are you looking at getting today?" The owner of Ink Sessions Tattoo asked as he stood behind the front desk of the parlor. "We have some openings today, so we can take you as a walk-in." He looked back and forth between Riley and Kendall. "Which one of you is getting it?"

"He is," Riley pushed Kendall forward. "He's getting his first tattoo today."

"A virgin, huh?" The owner grinned and held out his hand towards Kendall, his arm covered in intricate designs of tattoos. "That's cool; I don't have anyone that I'm working on anytime soon, so I'll take you myself. Name's Wes."

"Kendall." Kendall took his hand and shook it firmly. "Well, I had an idea of getting a tattoo of a heart on my sleeve, and I want it literally on my shoulder, where a shirt sleeve would be." He pointed to his left arm. "But I want it to be stitched up, not broken." He paused and looked over at Riley, who nodded back at him. "'Cause, I guess I was heartbroken when my Dad left me, my mom, and my sister, and with help from my friends, I'm getting better." He felt something twinge inside him and knew that it was his guilt taking over once more. But it wasn't like it wasn't true; he _did_ feel that way when his father left them.

"That's awesome man," Wes said as he shook his head. "That's a really cool reason; he can't get to you or hurt you anymore. I know how you feel," he scratched his forehead. "My mom left us when I was young too, but I made peace with it." He smiled once more. "You have a pic for me?"

"Yep." Riley reached into her front pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. Before leaving the restaurant, Riley got Kendall to describe the tattoo that he wanted and she quickly drew it out. Now she slapped it onto the counter. "Here you go, mate."

"That's really sick," Wes said as he looked it over. "Nice drawing, girly. Give me a few minutes to sketch it out and then we'll get started."

"Cool, thanks." Kendall nodded and backed away from the counter, looking over the tattoo shop as Riley went to sit down in one of the empty seats that were in the front.

Kendall walked along the walls of tattoos, looking at each of them for a few minutes before moving onto the next one. It was all so fascinating; he couldn't understand why so many people thought that tattoos were a bad thing. It was a different kind of art and it was always interesting to see how the tattoo artist put their own flair and art style into each tattoo that they made. After what seemed like forever Wes finally approached him, clapping him hard on the shoulder in his own excitement to be giving someone their first tattoo.

"Ready?" he asks and at the younger boy's nod he gestures with his large hand. "Come on back."

Leading the way, Wes plopped into a nearby chair and reached into a cabinet. Pulling out a small clip board he handed it to Kendall, who was sitting in the other chair, Riley standing at his side. "You wanna read and sign that. And I need your ID." Kendall handed it over and watched yet again as the man left, then read and signed the contract, of which made him a bit more nervous than he had originally been. "Sorry, policy, ya know?" Kendall nodded, running his hands up and down his thighs. He licked his lips as he looked around. Buzzing filled his ears as the other tattoo artists worked on their clients. Like it was nothing.

"You're 18 right?" Wes asked as he looked up from the ID. "Do you have parental permission to do this?"

Kendall nodded once more and reached into his jeans pocket. With shaking hands, he pulled out the sheet of paper with his mother's forged signature on it and handed it over to Wes. Wes took it and looked it over for a few moments. Kendall was suddenly aware that his heart was thudding against his chest.

Finally, Wes nodded and moved it aside, putting gloves on his hands. "So where do you want it? Left bicep, right?"

"Right." Kendall agreed.

"Thought so," Wes grinned, and then patted the tattoo table. "You wanna lie down?" Kendall looked, seeing the generously padded table and he did as he was told.

He watched as Wes took the nearly clear sheet, of which the ink version of the heart was on, and wet it. He paused a moment, waiting for Kendall to remove his left side from his shirt. Wes placed the sheet in the proper spot, wetting about it with a wet paper towel. After a moment he pulled the sheet off, "You want to go look at that real quick?"

Kendall walked over to one of the floor length mirrors, holding his shirt to the side so it didn't fall into the ink. Turning o to the side, he was surprised at how good it look. Walking back over to the table he asked, "What do you think?"

"Hot," Riley stated with a nod of her head and a smirk, so Kendall wasn't sure whether or not she was joking. "Really cool."

Kendall rolled his eyes before lying back down. He watched as the needle was hooked to another machine, "I'm just gonna do one line for now," Wes said as he dipped the tip into black ink. "Let you see just how it feels, okay? Then I'm just gonna go right through." Kendall closed his eyes, his heart speeding at the sound of the buzzing needle being so close to him. So _very_ close to him. About to permanently brand him for life. He opened his eyes when he felt a shadow fall over him and noticed that Riley had moved closer and was standing next to him.

"Do you want me to hold your hand?" She asked with a mischievous glint in her blue eyes, the smirk still present on her face. "I won't think any less of you if you need it, Hockey-Head," She added.

"No!" Kendall practically spat, his cheeks flushing red. But he nearly jumped as he felt the needle go into his soft skin. It hurt, no doubt about it, but it didn't hurt 'that' bad. He had heard from a lot of people that it hurt like crazy, and for others it'd didn't hurt in the slightest. It depended on the person's pain tolerance as well as where they got the tattoo. Kendall was relieved that it didn't hurt that badly, but it still made him uncomfortable. "Ok, yes!" He held his hand out and Riley placed her smaller one into his, holding onto it tightly.

Once Kendall relaxed; Wes began to speed right through it. His eyes intent upon his ink-art. Getting into his work he started to ask Kendall some questions, just to take his mind off of what was going on. "So," Wes said after a moment. "What color do you want this to be?"

"Red and Black are fine." Kendall replied.

He missed Wes glance over at Riley before looking back down at his work, laughing to himself quietly. Kendall glanced down to see his unfinished tattoo, and then winced as he saw the needle go in and out of his skin. Instinctively, he squeezed tighter onto Riley's hand, but whether or not it hurt her, he didn't know, as she didn't say anything. Her eyes were trained on the tattoo that was being created before her eyes, a soft smile on her face. Wes reached up with a paper towel and wiped away some blood and ink before he continued.

All was silent as Wes finished up the color and shading. Kendall closed his eyes as he felt the needle continue to move across his skin. He wasn't sure how long that he had his eyes closed, or how long he was at the shop before Wes had finished. It seemed to go by pretty quickly, but he knew that it had to have taken a bit to get his done.

"Go check it out." Wes said as he started to clean up his stuff. "What do you think?"

Kendall slowly got off of the table, noticing that his arm was hurting a little before walking over to the mirror, still holding onto Riley's hand. He let go and turned to the side so he could get a good look. His mouth dropped open and his green eyes widened. It was exactly what he wanted. The heart was big and took up most of his bicep, it was stitched down in the middle where it would be broken, and the needle was sitting off to the side, still attached to the heart by its thread. The color was vibrant and the black border around the red made it all better.

"It's amazing!" he said. "It's…wow…its better than I thought it was going to be." He grinned as he went back over to Wes.

Wes started to bandage up the tattoo, working carefully. "You need to keep this on the next three to four hours, when you take it off for the next two weeks or so you need to put some Neosporin or tattoo goo or Vitamin A and D gel on it twice a day. To keep it damp ya know, so it won't lose color and fade." He finished bandaging it and then leaned back in his chair. "When it starts to itch, and it will, because that's the dead skin coming off, _don't_ scratch or you'll scar and pick out the color. After a month or so and you want to come back and get a touch up, it's free." He smiled. "Got it?"

Kendall nodded, paid Wes, and then left the tattoo parlor with the biggest smile on his face. "Wow," he said as he touched the bandage. "I can't believe I got it."

"Frankly, I can't believe you did either." Riley said as she walked next to him, digging her car keys out of her pocket. "But you're branded now, and let me tell you, it's not going to be your last one. Getting tattoos is definitely addicting." She couldn't hide the excited smile that crept up onto her face. "I can't wait until the others see it."

"Well, if I ever go to get another one, you have to come with me on that one," Kendall stopped walking, flipping his blonde hair out of his face. The light breeze blew it back, but he didn't mind. He stretched out his right pinkie finger and looked at her earnestly.

Riley snorted. "Don't you think that we're a bit old to be doing the whole 'pinkie-promise' thing?" She asked in a condescending tone.

"I'm on an adrenaline high after getting my first tattoo, excuse me." Kendall defended himself flippantly. "But you have to make the deal." He insisted. "The next one you get or the next one I get, we have to go with each other. Deal?" He asked again, extending his pinkie into her face, wiggling it around.

Riley shook her head. "You're a trip, Kendall Knight." She hooked her pinkie around his, flashing the dark red nail polish that she was wearing. "Deal."

Kendall couldn't help himself, he reached out and gave her a light hug, squeezing her tightly before letting go and slowly peeling off his bandage so he could look at the tattoo once more. "I seriously can't believe I got it." He turned his gaze to Riley. "Thank you," he said sincerely. "I don't think I'd ever be able to get it without you coming with me."

"And that's why you like me so much," Riley said as she flipped her strand of red hair out of her eyes. She leaned forward and looked at the new ink on his bicep once more. She studied it for a moment before turning back to Kendall and smiling at him. "Because I keep your life interesting."

"You got that right," Kendall agreed.

The two got back into Riley's car and they drove to the PalmWoods. She received multiple yelps and pointed looks from Kendall while she drove one-handed for a moment to get her phone. She put it into the cradle and then pushed a button on the phone, instructing it to call home.

"Hey Ri-Ri," Sydney's voice came on the line. "What's up?"

"Guess what?" Riley replied.

"Umm." Sydney made a 'hm' sound before he tried to guess. "You stopped at Maccas and are bringing us back some food?"

"I think that just proves that we like it too much." Riley laughed. "No, I'm with Kendall, yeah, and he just got a tattoo."

"No way!" Sydney cried. Seconds later, he could be heard relaying the information and then Rhuben, Patrick, and Noah were on the line as well.

"What'd he get?" Rhuben asked. She then sounded suspicious and amused at the same time. "More importantly, how'd you talk him into it?"

"I didn't talk him into anything," Riley defended herself. "He made the decision, he paid for it, and it's his tattoo." She checked over her shoulder before she changed lanes, her eyes on the speedometer. "But wait until you guys see it, it's perfect for him. You'll love it."

"You know what I'd love?" Patrick asked. "Seeing Mama Knight's reaction when she sees it."

"Yeah, well, it'll be Kendall's decision to tell her and until then, we have to pretend like we don't know a thing."

"That's not a stretch," Noah remarked.

Riley laughed again and said goodbye to her brothers and sister before hanging up the phone. Kendall continued to lightly poke himself on the arm where the bandage was. It was going to take a while for him to get used to the fact that he had a tattoo. He wasn't sure how he was going to be able to hide it for a while. From his mother, that might be hard since she noticed everything, but from the others, he knew that it would be pretty simple. When they arrived at the PalmWoods, instead of going up to the crib, Kendall went into the PalmWoods Park and laid down on the grass. Riley lay down next to him, taking off her shoes and socks as she did so.

He briefly closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath, allowing the sun to fall over his face, before he opened his eyes, squinting against the light.

"You know people are going to go ape shit over the fact that you got a tattoo," Riley commented. "Especially since I was the one that went with you to get it." She rested her hands on her stomach. "Did you know that there's a rumor that I'm pregnant with James's kid but you're opting to act like a father figure to it?"

"No way!" Kendall's eyes flashed open. "You're not serious!"

"Not in the slight," Riley said with a little laugh. "I just wanted to freak you out as much as playing hockey annoyed me today."

"That's just because you're terrible at it," Kendall said, closing his eyes again. "And now here you are, lying in the grass at the PalmWoods Park with your best friend, trying to make him have a heart attack."

"A girl could do a lot worse," Riley said.

"Please." Kendall squinted his eyes as he looked at the sky once more. "I know you too well; you can't possibly tell me that there isn't any other guy that you would rather be out here with." He waited patiently for her answer.

"Ok, you got me." Riley paused for a moment. "Freddie Highmore."

Kendall burst out laughing. "Yeah, right!"

Riley arched an eyebrow. "You don't approve?"

"Not that." Kendall turned his head to the side so he could look at her. Her eyes were closed and her lips were slightly parted as she gently breathed through them. He thought about what happened when they had gone to the pool, they hadn't talked about it since then and he wasn't sure how she felt about what had…almost happened. "I was thinking of more in the realm of the possible."

Kendall watched Riley turn her head until her cheek was resting in her hand before flipping onto her side. She looked like a little girl, her cheek bunched up against her palm. She stuck her knee out to the side, and he worked to keep his eyes away from the smooth curve of her hips, a good section of her skin poking out from under the midriff shirt that she was wearing under her vest. It had shocked the boys at first to see her, after they had gotten back from tour, and saw that she changed he style slightly to start wearing midriff shirts, but it worked with her style well. Kendall's eyes briefly looked at the nautical star tattoo on her right hip before he chose to focus on her face, just right above her eyes. He turned onto his side, mirroring her position.

Her breath huffed out in only a way that Riley could that showed her annoyance and amusement ant his constant questions. "What is this, an inquisition?" She rolled onto her stomach, propping herself up onto her arms

Kendall rolled on his stomach next to her, their sides brushing. Her skin was warm, and the feel of her smooth skin against his leg stoked a fire in his belly.

"No, just a question," he replied.

"Yeah, well." Riley shrugged and then flushed lightly. "Best friends are nothing to sneeze at." She suddenly looked serious. "You know I would always watch Rhu and Logan when we were kids and at times I was envious of what they had." She cracked her knuckles. "Don't get me wrong, Logie-Bear and I were best friends, as you could be when you were kids, but I always knew that they had something deeper." She lightly nudged him. "Like you and I do."

Kendall smiled.

"I mean, all of you guys are my best friends for a reason, but you and I are closer."

Then his smile faded. He knew that this was the time that he should tell her the truth about what had been going on between him and his father. "Riles, listen, I need to tell you something," he said slowly. "And I'm telling you because I'm not sure how anyone else is going to react. I-"

He then let out a cry when the sprinklers suddenly shut on, soaking him. Beside him, Riley rolled over on top of him before quickly leapt to her feet, running her hands over her face. She tried, in vain, to keep the water out of her eyes. "Geez! I can't see!" She started to whip her head back and forth. "Where are my shoes?"

Kendall reached down and scooped them up, dangling them in front of his face. "Not so tough now, are you?" He teased.

"Give it!" Riley lunged for them but Kendall backed up a few spaces, running away from her. Riley raced after him, laughing and shouting at him to give her shoes back at the same time. Kendall continued to pull the shoes away, running back and forth through the sprinklers.

"You're going to have to try harder than that to get them-"he stopped when he was suddenly flung onto his back, causing him to grunt when he hit the ground. Riley was lying on top of him and grabbed the shoes from his hand with a triumphant smirk. "Back." He finished. "You moved a lot faster than I thought you would."

"That's what happens when I have four brothers and a Ronan and essentially live in a frat house," Riley grinned down into his face. "Rhu and I are a lot stronger and faster than we look." She grinned devilishly into his face. "I don't bite."

Kendall gave a devilish smirk before he flipped her over and used one hand to pin her to the ground, the other digging into her ribs and stomach, causing her to laugh hysterically. His face dripping with water from the sprinklers, he continued to move his hands over her sides, as Riley continued to laugh. Her desperate pleas were barely audible over her laughter, which only encouraged Kendall to move his fingers faster and faster over her. All she could do was laugh helplessly and jerk around, trying her hardest to throw her best friend off of her.

"Do you give up?" Kendall asked, his eyes flashing. He then noticed that Riley had stopped squirming under him and was moving her hand around her neck, her eyes wide. Her mood had switched quickly from fun to fear. "What's wrong?"

"My necklace," she said. "I can't find it!" She pushed Kendall off of her and got to her knees and started to crawl over the ground, moving her hands rapidly back and forth. "Help me find it!" Kendall had never heard such desperation in her voice as she continued to look for the piece of jewelry.

"What'd it look like?" He dropped to his knees and started to look as well.

"Silver, shaped like a guitar pick, has red flames on it." Riley quickly shuffled across the ground like a man possessed as she continued to look for it. "Where is it? Where is it?"

Kendall got to his knees and started to search through the grass as well. There were a few times where he would find a nickel or some other piece of metal that would shine in the light and he thought he had found it. He was starting to lose hope in finding it when he looked back where they had originally been when the sprinklers went off and he found it lying in the grass. He couldn't help but feel relieved when her eyes lit up when he held it out to her.

Then her face fell as she reached out to grab the necklace. She looked at it as if she was in a trance. "I got this when I was born. Rhu got a cross, Patrick got thunder bolts, Noah got little wings, Sydney got dog tags, and Julius got a paw print. It always reminded me of when I was a kid. I never worried about the future or the past and I never worried about what was going to happen to my family if I wasn't there." She put the necklace back on. "A lot of the times I wish I could go back to being nine years old, before my parents died. Things were so much better then."

"How are things now?" Kendall asked.

"Not as good as back then," Riley replied. "I mean, I'm glad I met you guys but…" she trailed off, lowering her gaze. "Kendall?" Riley was looking at her feet, her hair covering her face. "Would you think of me any differently if I cried?"

"No," Kendall said honestly. "In fact, I would think that you would be even stronger just because you cried."

"Good." Riley lifted her head. Tears were falling down her cheeks and her lower jaw was trembling. "Because I don't think that I can hold it in any longer." She closed her eyes and started to cry. Kendall moved forward and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "Don't let go," she whimpered against his chest. "Please don't let go."

"I won't," Kendall promised.

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Riley mumbled.

"I haven't yet."

* * *

Kendall sighed warily as he walked into the apartment. He wanted nothing but to get out of his wet clothes, into some dry ones, and watch some hockey on TV. He was tired, but it was a long day. He got a tattoo, was able to spend the day with his best friend, and now-

He paused when he noticed that James, Logan, and Carlos were all gathered on the couch, leaning over something that was on Carlos's lap. "What are you doing?" He asked.

Carlos let out a scream and threw the thing into the air as James and Logan sat up straight, eyes wide. Kendall noticed the guilty expression that slid over Logan's face and then the fact that Carlos had tried to dive into the couch, half in the cushions, half out, and James was giving Kendall a wide grin.

"Hey Kendall!" James got up from the couch and started to walk over to Kendall. "Hey, I have an idea, let's go mess with Bitters!" He put his arm around Kendall's shoulders and started to push him out of the room. "Doesn't that sound like fun to you?"

"Why are you guys acting so goofy?" Kendall asked. "More than usual, I mean."

"Wait, what's that on your arm?" James asked, pointing to the small bit of bandage that was poking out from underneath Kendall's sleeve. Kendall quickly pulled his arm back, but James stepped forward, trying to get a better look at it. "What happened? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Kendall said quickly. He looked down at his arm and then back up at James. "I don't think my arm is any of your business," he added sharply. James raised an eyebrow as he looked at his best friend. He licked his lips and crossed his arms over his chest, causing Kendall to mimic James's movements, though he winced at the pain in his arm. "What?"

"What are you hiding?" James asked, leaning forward so Kendall leaned back. He narrowed his hazel eyes.

Kendall's breath caught in this throat. He tried to think of a way to get out of answering James's question and then turned his gaze back to Logan and Carlos. Carlos was still trying to hide whatever it was that he was holding on to, and Logan was watching Kendall and James curiously, also staring at the bandage on Kendall's arm. "What are _you_ hiding?" He shot back.

"We weren't looking at Riley's notebook!" Carlos blurted, puling himself out from the couch.

"Carlos!" Logan reached out and smacked Carlos on the back of the head before shoving him to the floor. He flipped over and landed on the hardwood floor with a loud thud and a curse as he smacked his knee cap.

"What?" Carlos looked up at Logan. "I said we _weren't_ looking at her notebook."

"Because that's believable!" Logan rolled his eyes. He sighed loudly before standing up and going to retrieve the notebook from behind the couch. He picked it up and held it out to James. "She left it when she came over to do homework and…I guess we got a little curious."

"Seems to me you were more than a little curious," Kendall remarked, looking at the state of the notebook.

"Can I help it that I was trying to figure out how good looking she really thought I was?" James asked, trying to change the subject once more. "Now, did I hear you say that you wanted to go mess with Bitters?" He grinned. "I think I did! So, let's go and-"

Kendall looked at James and he fell silent. Kendall took the notebook from Logan's hand and tossed it over to Carlos. "Well," he said slowly. "You were already looking at it, so it can't be that bad if you keep reading a little more." He couldn't help but be a little curious himself.

Even when his sister had a diary, which was only for a couple of months when she was younger, he constantly wondered what she was writing in it and what was causing her to giggle like a madman while she wrote in it. He should have known that it was different plans for economic success, but it did take over his every thought for a while. Then he found out that looking through someone's diary was about as bad as going through his mother's purse when he wasn't asked to first, it was a mistake that he _never_ wanted to make again.

But it was just too tempting.

"Ok," Carlos opened it and flipped a few pages. "Notes, notes, boring, boring, song lyrics, song lyrics. Oh!" He went back to the couch and opened the notebook, resting it on his lap. "This was from…not that long ago. When we got back from tour I think." He cleared his throat as Logan, James, and Kendall walked over to the couch. Kendall put his hands in his jeans pockets and leaned against the couch, listening.

"The problem was…I really liked Kendall." Carlos blinked and he pulled the notebook away from him, double checking what he had read and then started reading again. "He liked me too, at least, at one point he did. But I was jumpy about any topic that might lead to his asking about how much trouble Rhubes and I had gotten into when we were back home."

Logan and James exchanged glances.

"That was something that I wasn't even comfortable telling Logan yet. It took me a while to tell Ronan and that was only because he was there for some of it. I know that Kendall senses that I'm hiding things; there's always something I'm hiding from him, so that made him a bit suspicious. But we're still best friends. Obviously, like I had originally planned, it would have been better to avoid him and his friends. But come on, Logie was my best friend since we were 8 and they've helped us through so much, so how was I going to be able to avoid them.

_Especially _when we were on tour together. I guess that was my saving grace, this time we didn't go on tour with them. I didn't think that I would miss them that much, but I did. It was good to see them again when they got back, but I should have known that with me and my siblings around, things weren't going to stay happy for long. Something always has to happen when we're around. We thought of it as a joke at first a 'Jackson Curse' but sometimes I think it's real."

Carlos turned a couple pages over, briefly scanning them before he turned the page. It was either songlyrics, random notes, or it was simply just not as interesting as the other things that he had red. He frowned when he reached the back and then went back to the front, flipping through some of the pages once more. When he found something, he set the notebook on his lap and started to read again.

"The fact that I killed a man was really putting a crimp in my love life. Ok, well, I didn't really kill him, but I hurt him badly. I don't even know what happened; first he was giving me back my wallet and the next thing I know, he was on the ground and I was covered in blood. I'm glad that the family didn't press charges and we got things dropped quickly so the press didn't find out. It's bad enough that I'm bipolar, but to have that tacked onto what's going on with Robert, it just makes me wonder if we really are crazy.

" It seems to only be affecting me and Rhubes and if we're lucky, it won't affect Pat, No, or Syd, we're going to have to watch them closely now. I've been diagnosed with it for a while, but it's still weird to think about. The things that I do, I don't mean, and people think it's cool. So I made it a part of my image. I don't like it much, but it's a way to make things easier, to have an explanation for it.

"Typically, a manic phase of bipolar disorder will last six to nine months, during which time the person with bipolar disorder will act out of character and seem off," explains Dr. Corá. A person with bipolar disorder will go through episodes of mania (highs) and at other times experience episodes of depression (lows). These aren't the normal periods of happiness and sadness that everyone experiences from time to time. Instead, these episodes are intense or severe mood swings, like a pendulum that keeps arcing higher and higher.

"So now he doctors want me to write down any instance I feel or exhibit any of these symptoms." He cleared his throat before he continued. "Racing speech and thoughts, increased energy, decreased need for sleep, elevated mood and exaggerated optimism, increased physical and mental activity, excessive irritability, aggressive behavior, and impatience, hypersexuality, increased sexual thoughts, feeling or behaviors; use of sexual language, reckless behavior, like excessive spending, making rash decisions, and erratic driving, difficulty concentrating, and inflated sense of self-importance," Carlos read aloud.

"Stop!" Kendall reached over and took the notebook from Carlos's hands, closing it. Kendall closed his eyes for a brief moment before tossing the notebook aside. "I can't do this bet anymore." He said. "It's not even worth it if I had to go and do something like this to win." He shook his head. "Not if it's going to hurt her."

He turned and looked at his friends seriously.

"I don't care about the stupid bet anymore, I quit."

* * *

**A/N: **After I had written _Heart on My Sleeve _and xosasasara asked for there to be more, I realized that I could fit it into this fic with a few additions. So thank you for that! I hope you guys liked this chapter.

Cheers,

-Riles


	9. And this time, it's no different

**.:Chapter 09:.**

_You know those pieces of frustration you hadn't used yet and had forgotten about? Yeah…you turned it up to high and now it burst into flames, blew off your oven door, and set fire to your kitchen. _

_Nice going._

_But this is the moment where you figure out if all of your hard work paid off. You take all of the emotions that have been building up for the past couple of months and release it. Take that emotion and towards the end, sprinkle powdered sugar on top._

* * *

"C'mon, where is it?" Riley dove under her bed, shoving boxes and pairs of shoes out of her way. "Where is it?" She turned to her backpack and upended it onto the floor, allowing pens, books, and sheets of paper to fall to the floor. "Where is it?"

"What are you doing, Ripcurl?" Ronan asked as he walked into the room, holding onto his laptop, his reading glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. He studied his eldest daughter as she turned to him with a 'duh' look.

"I'm looking for my notebook!" She snapped. "I mean, I know that it was falling apart and that I needed to get a new one, but…" she looked up at Ronan. Pushing her hair out of her face, she tilted her head back to look at her father. "What's up, Ronan? Did your publicist call again?" She snapped her fingers. "Did she hear that Kendall and I are now moving in together?"

"No, this time it's actually something that's true." Ronan turned his laptop around and handed it to Riley so she could see the article that he had been scrolling through. "Apparently Kendall has been seeing his dad for a while."

Riley made a 'humph' sound before closing the lid to his laptop and handing it back to Ronan. "Well, I was about to go over there to see if they've seen my notebook, but this gives me an even better incentive to go!" She gave a tight smile. "I can't believe he lied to me."

"Well, maybe he never found the right time to say anything," Ronan said. "Don't be quick to judge; maybe Kacy didn't want him to say anything."

"Did _you_ know about it?" Riley asked pointedly.

Ronan was silent.

"I thought so." Riley got to her feet, now starting to look for her car keys. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go talk to my _best friend_." Her eyes flashed.

"Just do me a favor." Ronan reached out and placed a hand on Riley's head, forcing her to stop and look at him. "Please don't yell at them unless you have a really good reason to."

"So you mean basically just like every other reason that I have to yell at them?" Riley batted her eyelashes innocently. "When they do something stupid?"

Ronan sighed loudly. He tousled her hair as he gave her a smile. "You know, there was many times where I wondered why you made such a big impression on me when we first met. And it wasn't because you hated me at first. Now I realize it's because you really don't like to be hurt." Riley gazed up at him. "I just hope that whenever it does inevitably happen, you'll let me help you."

"You already have." Riley gave a shadow of a smile, shuffling her feet. "I know I haven't said it a lot since Robert left, but thanks for everything, Dad."

Ronan smiled and gave her a hug.

* * *

"So she's really bipolar?" Katie asked, slapping Riley's notebook against her palm. She lifted her head and looked at Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James. "It makes a lot of things make sense, but I didn't think it would be anything…_mentally_ related."

"Well, that's the thing," Logan said slowly. "If they've never properly addressed whatever had been going on in their life, it could manifest in different ways. I think this is how it's manifested with Landy."

"Still." James held up his hands and smiled. "I think the hyper sexuality thing could be a pretty good deal out of it." He held his arms up over his face as the others turned and glared at him. "I was just _saying!_" He lowered his arms and flipped his hair out of his face. "Besides, it's not like we can do anything about it. Technically, we weren't even supposed to know."

"That's not my fault." Kendall held up his hands defensively before covering his mouth. "You guys were the ones that wanted to read it."

There was a double-knock at the apartment door before it slammed open, crashing into the wall behind it, causing the boys and Katie to jump. They turned around and watched as Riley strode into the room, her eyes on Kendall. "I need to talk to you." Her eyes flicked over to the others and flashed a little. "Alone."

"Ok," Kendall replied, looking a little confused as he slowly lowered the remote. He looked at the ceiling for a few seconds as he thought. "Uh, we can go to my room then."

"Uh Landy," Logan spoke up quietly and tentatively. He noticed she looked more than pissed and it wouldn't help anything if she didn't calm down first. That way they'd be sure that no one would say anything that they would regret later. "Maybe you should calm down a little bi-"

"Shut up, Logie!" Riley snapped back at him.

"Ok," he replied obediently and turned away from her. Kendall got up from the couch, shrugging towards his friends and sister, who looked back at him with wide eyes, as he followed Riley into his and Logan's room. James waited until they were out of sight before speaking.

"What's that all about?" James questioned after a second of silence.

"I don't know," Carlos replied, his eyes wide. "But she scared me."

"Shh!" Katie got up from the couch and ran over to the door, pressing her ear against it. It was only a matter of seconds before Logan, James, and Carlos was at her side, listening just as intently as she was.

"So it's obvious you're mad at me about something," Kendall stated as soon as he closed the door behind Riley. He placed his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels. "I'm not sure about what though." Riley was silent as she glared back at him. Kendall pulled his hands from his pockets and held his arms out and shrugged. "So if you could explain it to me, I'd be grateful."

"Please don't make a joke of this," Riley finally spoke, brushing her hair out of her face. Her eyes flashed dangerously, her face was a dark red, and her hands were clenched into fists; this was the most angry Kendall had ever seen her.

"What am I making a joke about?" Kendall ran his hands over his face, leaned back against the door, and stared back at her.

Riley took a couple of deep breaths before responding. "How come you had to let me find out about you seeing your dad from a gossip site?" She spat. "When were you going to tell me about it?"

Kendall paused for a long moment, trying to figure out what to say to defend himself. It wasn't that he didn't _try _to tell her what was going on, it was just that there was never a good time for it. "Why didn't you say anything until now?" Kendall asked. He winced, knowing it wasn't what he should have asked at the moment. "How long have you known?"

"Not long," Riley said slowly. "You want to guess how long?" She didn't let him answer. "Just today." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Imagine my surprise when we found out about it."

Kendall grimaced. "Sorry," he apologized. "I was going to tell you," he shrugged and spread his hands. "I just didn't know how." He was silent for a moment, when he spoke again, his voice was shaking. "The day at the park, when you lost your necklace, I tried to tell you then."

"Well it's a good thing you didn't or I would have said it was a bad idea." Riley remarked and continued at Kendall's confused look. "I can't say this for sure, since I don't know what's been going on with your guys' meetings, but in the long run it's not going to end well if you see your dad. You can trust me on that. It's never a good thing if he leaves for a long time and then all of a sudden shows up again." She shook her head. "There's always some sort of hidden motive…I've seen it happen enough."

"What?" Kendall questioned, lifting his head and looking at her sharply.

"Don't go see your dad," Riley reiterated. "It's not going to end well." She tilted her head. "What part of that didn't you get the first time?"

Kendall blinked once. "What the hell?" he questioned. Riley shot him a confused look and he continued. "Why would you want to ruin something for me that could possibly bring our family back together?"

"_Ruin_ it for you?" Riley repeated, her eyes flying open.

"Yeah," Kendall wiped sweat off of his forehead. He hadn't been so worked up without the idea of a hockey game coming up. "Things have been good for us so far."

"If anyone is ruining anything, it's _you_!" Riley spat, looking like she wanted to kill him. "I had asked you about twenty times what has been bothering you, and you kept saying," she rolled her shoulders back, trying to imitate Kendall's stance. She lowered her voice a little. "'It's nothing.' 'I'm fine.' 'Don't worry about me.'" She snorted and went back to her normal pitch. "You know I can't help but worry about other people. But the worst part was that you _lied_ to me, _to my face_, every time I asked you!"

"Ok, I admit that was a bad idea," Kendall shot back quickly. "But…" he licked his lips and looked away."…I mean, this is the first time my mom, dad, sister, and I can all be a family again. Something I've wanted so badly for a long time and now you're trying to talk me out of it?"

"I'm not trying to ruin anything, Kendall!" Riley raised her voice. "I'm not having this whole conversation to tell you how much I'm trying to break apart your family. Get over yourself!" She set her jaw and looked away from him. "If that's what you think I'm doing then you obviously don't know me very well."

"I do know you," Kendall insisted. "I know you so well it's not even funny." He lowered his voice. "I'm sorry I lied to you, but I didn't really have a choice." He whispered.

"You didn't have a choice?" Riley repeated, raising an eyebrow. She actually started laughing, which just caused Kendall to become even angrier.

"No!" Kendall snapped. "I didn't have a choice. I knew how you guys were going to react. I knew you were going to act like you knew everything that was going to happen with my dad." He clenched his hands into fists. "You don't know _everything_."

Riley held her breath as she counted backwards from ten, to calm herself down. She let out a huff of air; her shoulders holding so much tension they were practically at her ears. When she finished letting out her breath, her shoulders fell, but her hands were still clenched into fists.

"Listen, just because I know what it's like to have a dad that's a jerk-"

"Would you stop turning everything back to _you_?" Kendall cried emotionally. "Every time we talk seriously it's always 'my dad hit me' or 'my dad's a jerk' or 'I can't trust people because of my dad'. I get it ok? I get it! Your dad was a jerk! But he's not _here_ anymore. _He's not fucking around anymore! Do you not get that?_ Newsflash, the world doesn't revolve around you, stop acting like it!" He grinded his teeth back and forth. "So why don't we talk about what's really bothering you."

"What do you mean?" Riley suddenly felt tired, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I know lying to you was probably the dumbest thing I could have ever done," he said slowly. "So why don't you explain to me why you've been acting so weird lately." He looked her in the eye. "Because you keeping secrets from me hurts more than you screaming at me." He hoped that she would tell him everything right then and there, everything he already knew from reading her song lyric notebook/journal.

But all he got was silence.

"You know what your problem is?" Riley finally managed to find her voice. "You can't _stand_ not having things being about you. _You _always have to go and get into everyone else's business to fix things. You couldn't even stand not having girls all over you-"

"Oh my god." Kendall slapped his hands to his face. "Please don't tell me you're bringing Lucy up _again_!" He glared, jabbing a finger towards her. "Why can't you get over it?"

"Why can't _you_ get over the fact I'm friends with WayneWayne?" Riley shot back.

"That's not the same thing!" Kendall insisted. "You don't understand-"

"Oh, I understand everything," Riley shot back. "In fact, frankly, I'm fucking _tired_ of understanding. ALL I EVER DO IS UNDERSTAND!" She hollered.

Kendall laughed. "You know, I actually thought I could change you, that I could help you realize not everybody in the world is out to make you miserable, but I guess I was wrong." He was seething. "I never said this out loud but I often wondered what caused you to get abused so badly, but now I realize sometimes you deserved it!"

There was a stunned silence between the two of them. Neither of them could believe Kendall had just said that, let alone yelled it at her. But there was something else the two of them had in common, they were too proud to admit when they were wrong about something, and they were both wrong when it came to this argument. He didn't mean it at all, it just popped out, and he knew he couldn't take it back.

Riley saw red and said the first thing that popped into her head.

And like Kendall she didn't mean it what so ever.

"You know what," she raised her hands to her hair and then slapped them down to her side. "You're the worst friend ever." She took a breath. "You're such a hoon...such a..." She smirked when she found what she wanted to say. "Big Time Loser!"

Kendall glared back at her. "And you're a Big Time Bitch!" Riley glared fiercely and turned on her heel to leave. "You're a heartless bitch who doesn't care about anyone but yourself!" he hurled after her. He watched as she stopped abruptly, listening. "Go ahead and run! Run away like you always do when you're scared!" As he watched, Riley slowly shook her head and continued walking.

Riley threw open the door to his room and glared when she noticed Katie, Logan, Carlos, and James jump backwards, all trying to pretend that they hadn't been listening. She shoved by them and started for the front door but then stopped and turned back around, placing her hands on her hips. She ignored Kendall, who was hovering in the doorway to his room, watching them.

"Have you guys seen my notebook?" She placed a hand to her forehead. "I think I left it here the last time that I was doing homework with Logie. That's why I came over in the first place, but I got distracted." She glanced over at Kendall before turning back to the others.

James and Carlos started to whistle loudly and Katie bit her bottom lip, twirling some of her hair around her finger. Logan was the only one that moved to get it. He went over to the kitchen and grabbed the worn, red and black notebook off of the counter. He turned back and handed it to her. He looked up when he moved to let go of the notebook and noticed that Riley was staring intently at him, holding tightly onto the other end of the notebook.

"Did you read it?" she asked.

Carlos made a whimpering sound and ducked behind James, who now looked even more panicked than before.

"Uh." Logan tried to stall for time.

"Please don't forget that I can tell when you lie," Riley said in a warning tone. Logan let out a sigh and he quietly nodded. Riley's eyes narrowed as Logan let go of the notebook, allowing her to drop her arms. "You know what?" She let go of her notebook with her right hand and pointed at him. "Fuck you, asshole!"

"Asshole?" Logan repeated, his eyes widening.

"Yeah, asshole!" Riley started to point around the room, starting with Logan. "Fuck you! And fuck you! And fuck you! And fuck you!" She turned to point at Katie, but then faltered when she noticed the scared and shocked look on the younger girl's face. Riley lowered her arm. "And…I can't say anything about you or Mama Knight or I'd be killed, so I'm going to keep my mouth shut." She turned back to the boys. "But fuck all of you! I'm sick and tired of each and every one of you always butting into my private business every time I don't come right out and say something that you want to know. Do me a favor and jump off a cliff or drop dead or something so that you're out of my life! God!"

She turned on her heel and stormed out of the apartment, leaving stunned silence behind her.

Kendall slammed his fist against the wall. He hadn't succeeded in opening her up; he'd only succeeded in pushing her away.

And as he heard her footsteps fade away, he knew he'd scared her away for good.

* * *

Riley leaned forward and grabbed her phone off of her bed, going to her MyFace page. She quickly typed in and posted a status: _It really sucks when you need help and you're all by yourself because you continuously push people away thinking they're going to hurt you first. _She thought about posting it to ScuttleButter, but then decided against it, knowing her single MyFace page was private; she didn't have to worry about fans analyzing her ScuttButt to death. She didn't need that sort of attention at the moment. It would just cause more rumors to fly around and it was something she would rather not think about.

_"It's possible you guys are experiences complicated grief, which is usually seen after the loss of a loved one. Well, you're exhibiting it in different ways. Rhuben you said you just went to quietly cool down after your fight with your parents, right? And Riley, you said you got really angry and yelled a bit. I think the reason that you two exhibit those two extremes when you're mad, quietness and anger, is because every time you get mad, you subconsciously think back to when your parents died and immediately switch to that emotion. But take it to a further extent. The same thing when you're driving; Riley you drive pretty fast and Rhuben is very cautious. It doesn't help that you had the added trauma of what you went through with Robert, the fact you kept that quiet for so long has also added to it, which is seen in your nightmares and when you think that you see Robert around you."_

_"I never said this out loud but I often wondered what caused you to get abused so badly, but now I realize sometimes you deserved it!"_

_"And you're a Big Time Bitch! You're a heartless bitch who doesn't care about anyone but yourself! Go ahead and run! Run away like you always do when you're scared!"_

Riley got off of her bed and looked around her room, her fingers twitching at her sides, her hands clenching into fists and unclenching rapidly. She started to suck in a few breaths through her nose as her breathing quickened. She could feel her whole body flush as she looked around the room. Her eyes settled on the pictures she had put up; of her and her family and friends. She scanned each of them, her breathing quickening with each pass over a photo. It was when she got to a picture of her and Kendall, her favorite picture she fell apart. She studied the picture, the two of them frozen in time. She was on his back as he was giving her a piggy-back ride, in the middle of pulling his gray beanie off of his head. The two of them were caught in mid laughter when Rhuben had taken the photo, at their 'welcome home' party after they got back from their tour. Looking at it before used to make her smile, not it just made her angry.

Riley reached up and ripped the photo off of the wall before she grabbed all of the others and tore them off as well. She then moved over to her desk and swiped everything to the floor before knocking her desk over. In her blind rage, she just wanted to be able to get her hands on anything and rip it apart. By the time she managed to cool down a little bit, to take in her surroundings, her room was trashed. Riley clenched her fists and brought them up to her forehead before lightly hitting herself on the forehead. She then fell to her knees and started to slam her fists on the ground repeatedly.

…

..

.

Riley paced through the den, a little confused. She didn't remember leaving her room and going downstairs. Looking at her watch she could see that an hour had passed and with that hour, part of her life went with it. It was like a black veil covered her at that moment, she didn't know what happened. She didn't know if she had broken anything else. She didn't even remember why the house was so quiet. Her family went…somewhere, but she wasn't sure where. All she remembered was smacking her palms against the ground, and now she was in the den.

She turned as there was the sound of rapid knocking on the front door and went to answer it. When she pulled open the door and saw Kendall on the front porch, she gave him the coldest glare she could muster and tried to shut the door in his face.

"I know you don't want to see me, but I saw your MyFace status and needed to be sure you're ok." He pushed the door open and entered the house behind her, closing it gently. "I just got a bad feeling." He watched as she walked around in a circle, as if stalking her prey. "What's going on?" Kendall asked, taking a few cautious steps towards her. "Are you ok?"

"Nothing!" Riley cried. "It's none of your business!" She started to walk towards the living room, taking long strides. She threw her arm out, motioning for him to leave. "So just leave me alone!"

"No, I'm not leaving!" Kendall said, following her.

"I mean it this time, Kendall," Riley growled.

"Riley, ever since that trip to the mall…your moods have been all over the place." Kendall moved to her side and grabbed her arm, turning her so she faced him. The two were in the living room at this point, their voices echoing off of the high-ceiling. She moved to pull from his grasp. "Look at me! Ok! One minute, we're best friends, then you're all over me at the pool-"

"Hang on a tick!" Riley held her hand up in front of Kendall's face. She only spoke when she lowered it, sure that he had he had stopped talking. "I was never 'all over you' as you so eloquently put it."

"Really?" Kendall raised an eyebrow. "You were going to kiss me back, right?"

Riley started to stammer out an answer. "I...you...but...we..." she threw her hands down to her hips. "That's not the point!" She snapped.

"The point _is_," Kendall said sharply. "All of that had been going on, and then we're fighting, and next you don't even want to _see _me! And then you put up a cryptic message on MyFace."

"We had a pretty big fight, Kendork that usually makes sense as to why people don't want to see each other." Riley sneered.

Kendall ignored her, continuing. "And with all of what's happened, I can't help but think if it doesn't have anything to do with someone else, then I can't help but think…" he trailed off, not wanting to say what he was thinking.

But Riley had noticed the look in his eye and egged him on. "What?" She demanded. "Go ahead! Say it!"

Kendall sighed, looking over her head. "I'm just wondering if it's maybe some kind of medical situation."

"Medical-"Riley paused and then thought about it for a minute. Her eyes then widened. "You read that part of my notebook!" Her eyes widened. "Oh my god, I can't believe you fucking read that part! Did you read the whole thing?" She put her hands up to her hair before she started to pace back and forth. "If you think I'm such a wacko, then why don't you do us both a favor and just stop talking to me? Just act like I'm not even there. Like I don't even exist."

"I just want to help you, Riles." Kendall said in a low voice.

"Get out!" Riley pointed towards the door.

"Why are you acting like this?" Kendall asked. "I'm trying to help you. Please. Even though we're fighting, you're my best friend," Kendall pleaded. "I just want to help."

Riley stormed over to the glass table in the middle of the room and picked up a glass bird that was sitting on the end. She turned around and threw it at Kendall. He quickly ducked out of the way and it shattered against the wall behind him, causing the two to fall silent, looking at each other.

All of a sudden Riley let out an anguished sound, squeezing her eyes shut. "Oh my god, I'm cracking up!" She started to cry. "I'm going completely crazy!"

"No one said that," Kendall said in a soothing voice. "No one thinks that." Riley looked at him before darting out of the room. He followed her as she ducked into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. "Riley. Riles!"

Riley leaned against the bathroom door, feeling it shake behind, knowing Kendall was trying to open it. She continued to cry for a minute before she grabbed a soap dispenser for a bar of soap and threw it at the door. "Go away! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"I'm not going anywhere," Kendall said.

"I SAID GO AWAY!" Riley grabbed the soap this time and then threw it at the mirror, shattering it. "God!" She grabbed onto the doorknob and sank to her knees, resting her head against the door. "Please, don't come in here."

"Ok, I won't come in, but I'm not going anywhere," Kendall said and the shaking of the door stopped. "I'm still here for you."

"I want my daddy," Riley whimpered. She pressed her forehead against her knees.

"Uh, well. I don't know how to do that for you," Kendall replied hesitantly.

"No." Riley kept her face against her legs, her breath slowing. Tears continued to fall down her cheeks. "I want Ronan! I want my sister! I want my brothers!"

"They'll be here soon," Kendall's voice sounded a little muffled. Probably because he was changing sitting positions so he would be more comfortable. "You know the LA traffic; it's hard to get anywhere when you're in a hurry. But they'll be home soon."

There was a long moment of silence between the two of them. The silence stretched on for a while. Riley managed to calm herself down so she wasn't crying anymore. But she was still hurting. There was a spot in the middle of her chest ached with a sharp pain she wasn't sure would ever go away. She wasn't even sure when it had gotten there, but it had been there for a long time. It didn't hurt as much as it used to, but it still did. She wasn't even sure how to get it to go away; she just continued to push the pain aside, hoping it would go away all by itself. Now she knew not everything could do that, not everything could be pushed away and act like nothing was going on. It was always going to push back in some way, shape, or form.

Riley tilted her head back, leaning it against the door. She looked at her watch. An hour and a half had gone by. She turned her head to the side and pressed her ear against the door. She didn't hear anything, but she couldn't be so sure.

"You're still out there aren't you?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah." came Kendall's quick reply. "I'm still here." She could hear him take a deep breath. "You're not going crazy, Ri. You're not crazy at all. You know why? Because you are so special and you give so much to everyone around you and you help those that need you. But you don't allow anyone to help you when _you_ really need it. And you know what? I need you."

Riley closed her eyes as she listened to him. Her hands loosened around the doorknob. She could hear everything he was saying, but there was still a big part of her that was messed up. There was still a big part of her that refused to believe him. "That's not true." She said quietly.

"Is this what you always do?" Kendal asked. "You turn everyone around until you're convinced people don't want to be around you?"

"You don't have any idea what you're talking about," Riley whispered.

"I know how numbing the pain of hating yourself is. It makes you want to push everyone away, especially the ones that care about you the most. But you can't. Not unless you plan on never being happy." He took a few deep breaths. He wasn't sure what to say anymore, he didn't know it if it was helping. "Everything I've said is true." Kendall insisted. "My life began when I met you, Ri. And throughout everything you never gave up on me so I'm not going to give up on you." Riley turned her head away, though she was still listening to him. "I'll never give up on you."

Riley let out a breath, her fringe flying off of her forehead. She then turned and slowly got to her feet. She pressed her forehead against the door.

"It's probably the wrong time to tell you this. But, maybe it's the perfect time. I realize how incredibly confusing things are between us right now. I can't even begin to explain our relationship. You probably can't either. But, I just want you to know if you ever need me, I'll always be here for you. All you ever had to do was ask, though I hoped you knew that you didn't have to ask."

Riley swallowed thickly; her throat was raw from all of the screaming that night.

But she was tired of screaming and crying.

She was tired of trying to keep things a secret, it just continued to blow up in her face.

She was tired of running.

Riley hesitantly grabbed onto the doorknob before slowly opening the door. She looked down at her feet as she walked forward into Kendall's arms. She threaded her arms through his and placed her hands on his shoulders as he lowered his head and wrapped his arms around her back, in their special hug as she sobbed.

"It's ok," Kendall said quietly, gently rocking her. "Everything's going to be ok. I promise."

* * *

Riley woke up to find herself in her bed and her siblings sitting around her. Sydney was sitting directly next to her and when he saw she was waking up; he rocked forward onto his knees and looked down at her with his big, blue eyes.

"Ri-Ri, are you awake?" He asked.

"Of course she is, stupid," Patrick said quietly, knocking him on the arm.

"I was just making sure," Sydney pouted.

"How are you feeling, Riles?" Noah asked gently. His eyes scanned around the room and he gave a half smile. "From the state of your room, I wouldn't say too great." He admitted. He then frowned. "How come you didn't tell us your medicine wasn't helping you?"

"How come you didn't notice?" Riley replied, her voice laden with fatigue.

"It's not that we didn't notice," Rhuben said slowly, running a hand through her hair. "It's…I don't know, I guess some of the things we've seen, we just get too used to, so we didn't really know if it was because it was you…or because of the medication. It didn't help that you and Kendall had the bet going, so some of what you were doing, we could equate to how badly you were trying to scare him to get him to lose." Riley shrugged, pushing herself to sit up. "Ronan called in a stronger prescription by the way; he's downstairs talking to Mrs. Knight on the phone. The guys were really worried about you after you yelled at them today. Camille, Stephanie, and Lizzie told me to say hi." She sat up straight. "Jo called, too."

"Great, now I've made her worry from thousands of miles away." Riley managed a half smile. "And Jo isn't good when she worries in general."

"You got that right," Rhuben agreed.

Riley's eyes moved around the room. "Where's Kendall?" she asked.

"He went home," Noah replied. "He said he wanted to give you some space for a few days." He felt silent, digging his finger in the blanket. "So I don't think he's going to be around much."

"Oh." Riley looked sad. "Does he hate me? Do the guys hate me? Katie?"

"No, they don't hate you," Patrick reassured her. "Now that they know what's going on, they can't really hold it against you."

Riley looked like she wasn't sure. She suddenly looked stricken. "I don't have to go back to the hospital do I?" She asked, her eyes widening a little. "I don't want to have to go back there. I'd rather listen to Dr. Angelo ask me over and over if I can do a back flip." She gave a wry smile.

"No." Patrick shook his head. "Ronan explained you just needed more strength on your dosage and the doctor suggested you just get some rest and start taking more of your medication a day before you get the stronger pills."

He moved forward and kissed his sister on the forehead before pulling back to look at her. He gazed at his eldest sister, the one who always put him and his brothers and Rhuben before herself, the one who refused any help of any kind, the one who had a short-temper but was the only one who could turn it around and make it endearing. He hated to see her this way, especially since he and his family were probably the only people in the world who knew Riley's confidence levels were just as high as her insecurity levels. She is an extremely sensitive person, but you wouldn't know because she always puts on a tough façade. Sometimes he wished she would show the side he knew; a teenage girl acted crazy and random at times to everyone else. That way she wouldn't always be hiding everything.

"Do you want us to stay with you tonight?" Patrick asked.

"Yes, please." Riley replied in a small voice. She pulled her covers up to her chin.

"Yay!" Sydney pulled back the covers on Riley's bed and moved in next to her. "Sleepover!" He made space for Patrick and Noah to climb onto her bed, moving towards the foot of the bed so they had more room.

Rhuben stayed standing, shaking her head. "I don't think all of us are going to fit in one bed." She said, and then placed her hands on her hips. "Not with Patrick's big head in the way." She lightly shoved him before climbing onto the bed as well. She stretched out and rested her head on Noah's lower back. "And if any of you guys fart, I'll brain you."

Her threat was met with quiet laughter.

* * *

**A/N: **So what did you all think? This time next week, the story will be over.

I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	10. Whatever happens you should know

**.:Chapter 10:.**

_For an apology you can either go one of two ways. You can either take all of your tears and suffering from the last couple of days, put it in a jar and give it to the other person. Or you can do it like this; take a girl, her family, their band, a small concert, and a song, blend it all together until you get the biggest cliché that's likely to put a smile on your face and put that as the icing on top of your cake. Hey, whatever it takes, right? _

* * *

Kendall looked over his phone, frowning when he unlocked it and saw he didn't have any new texts, voicemails, or e-mails. But he was trying not to get too worked up over it. The last time his phone rang, he jumped for it, only to be reminded by Gustavo they had some vocal work to do the upcoming week. Like he didn't have other things to worry about.

Kendall rolled onto his stomach, looking at his phone for another moment. Still nothing. He locked his phone and shoved it back into his pocket, pushing himself up and climbing off of his bed. He ran a hand over his face. _Well, it was your own fault; you wanted to give her some time to get through everything. _

"Hey, where are you guys going?" Kendall asked as he walked out of his room, seeing his mother, Logan, Carlos, James, and Katie all gathered by the front door, pulling on their coats. "Did Gustavo book us for something and I forgot?"

"No," Logan said slowly. "The Jacksons are doing their show at Jay Leno today, remember?"

Kendall barely remembered it.

He couldn't think about anything but the fight he and Riley had. It had been days since they spoke but it was his own fault, he supposed. He was the one who figured she needed to have some space to cool down before they talked about what had happened. Ronan agreed with the idea, saying it would be better for her to get onto the stronger medication so she could get her head clear. Then there was all of the damage control of the rumors they were already dealing with; he was trying his hardest to keep down the constant stories and questions that were going around about him and his daughter. He understood the music industry and knew it would be hard to get it to go away completely, it wasn't the first time there were rumors. As soon as the two bands started working together there were rumors, but these didn't damage reputations as badly.

Kendall had quit the bet, but it didn't seem to help much.

"Right." Kendall nodded.

"Do you still want to come?" Katie asked, turning to her big brother with wide eyes. "It should be really cool. And, hey…" she turned to look at Logan, Carlos, and James. "…maybe you guys could talk your way into getting on his show, too!"

"Uh." Kendall scratched the back of his neck. "I don't know." He started to scratch his arm. "It's probably not a good ide-"

"Kendall," Mrs. Knight interrupted, looking at her son's arm. She lifted a hand and pointed. "What's that?" She asked.

Kendall looked down and noticed his tattoo had been uncovered. He let out a sigh and rolled up his sleeve the rest of the way. Katie and Carlos let out sounds of surprise and crowded closer to get a better look and Logan and James stood right behind them, trying to be able to see. Mrs. Knight looked pointedly at her son, her arms crossed.

"I went and got a tattoo," Kendall said.

"How?" Mrs. Knight asked, her eyes narrowing. "You need to have parental permission to go and get one."

Kendall thought about telling the truth and then hesitated, thinking hard about it. He turned back to his mother, pushing Carlos away from him. "I, uh, forged your signature and got it done." He lightly scratched at his skin. "You see, I always really wanted one, and I didn't want to wait anymore, so I went and got this."

"Because of me?" Katie asked. She lifted her green eyes to her brother, immediately understanding the reference.

"No." Kendall smiled down at her. "It wasn't because of you, don't worry." He reached out and ruffled her hair. He then turned back to his mother. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I know you would have said 'no'-"

"What are you apologizing to her for?" James demanded. Kendall gave him a weird look. "_I _was supposed to be the one who got the tattoo first. I mean, this whole bad boy thing, everyone knows I could be a much better bad boy. I can make tattoos work better than you can."

"Thanks." Kendall gave him a sarcastic smile.

"Did it hurt?" Carlos asked, still inspecting the skin. Beside him, Logan was peering closely at the art, stretching Kendall's skin a few different ways, checking for lesions in the skin.

"It doesn't look like it was infected at all," he remarked. "That being said, I really like it." He then turned to James. "And sorry to burst your bubble, but I got a tattoo before Kendall did. He held out his left hand to reveal the star tattoo he had gotten with Riley and Rhuben.

Kendall smiled at Logan, as the others now turned their attention to him, and looked at his mother, shrugging and mouthing the words 'I'm sorry' again. He waited for her response. He waited for a disapproving frown, a shake of the head, a sentence of being grounded for a long time, but nothing came.

Mrs. Knight merely hitched her purse up. "I can't do anything about it now; you've already done and gotten it." Kendall was surprised, she didn't seem mad in the slightest. But he wasn't going to let his guard down; she could have just been storing it for later. "Are you going to come to the show with us?"

Kendall was silent.

* * *

"Ugh, this is the most clichéd thing I've ever done," Riley muttered, twisting her ring around her finger. If she wasn't doing that, she was constantly looking at her watch, running her hands over her face, or bouncing her leg up and down. _Not much longer until I make the biggest ass of myself. _She put her face in her hands and brushed her hair back before going back to twisting her ring.

"Really?" Sydney brushed his overgrown hair back from his face. "I thought you said falling for Kendall in the first place was clichéd." He moved over to his sister and gave her a hug around the waist. "Don't worry about it, Riles. What happens happens and we're glad to help you."

"Still, if he doesn't forgive you, then he's the one who's completely crazy," Patrick added, giving her a small smile.

"Besides, it's only a few moments of your life," Noah agreed. "We're only the musical guest, and we told the coordinator we're doing a different song. So it's not going to kill you." He shrugged. "We'll probably get a lot of feedback from it, maybe more fans of you two in general, but still." When Riley didn't smile, he shuffled his feet. "I was trying to make you laugh."

"It's all right." Riley started to rub her arm, pacing back and forth. "I'm just nervous."

"Well, we have to go on," Rhuben said as there was a knock on the door. "So you don't really have a choice but to do it now. Come on, you can do this, it's just like we tell the guys whenever they're nervous. Pick out a face in the crowd and sing to them." She put her arm around her twin's shoulders. "And we're going to be right there with ya."

Patrick, Noah, and Sydney nodded in agreement.

"All right," Riley let out a huge breath. "Let's get this over with."

She led her siblings out of the dressing room and onto Jay Leno's stage, where their instruments had been set up. As the audience cheered, they smiled and waved at their cheering fans. Her heart hammered in her throat as she picked up her guitar and slung it over her head, moving in front of the microphone which had been set up in front of her. She turned and waited for Rhuben to count them off before they started the song.

Riley sighed quietly before stepping up to the microphone.

_"A strangled smile fell from your face. It kills me that I hurt you this way. The worst part is that I didn't even know; now there are a million reasons for you to go. But if you can find a reason to stay, I'll do whatever it takes to turn this around. I know what's at stake; I know that I've let you down. And if you give me a chance, believe that I can change; I'll keep us together whatever it takes."_

She looked around the audience, though it was quite dark, while she sang the song. She could see the emotion on their faces; she could see the pride on Ronan's and Julius' faces, she could see hands waving in the air…

But she didn't see him.

That didn't deter her, though. Not until the song ended and she walked back to the dressing room, listening as Jay closed the show. It'd probably be another two weeks or so until it aired. She flopped into her chair and started to take off the stage make-up, trying hard not to look at her reflection. If she did, she would just see bitter disappointment.

"Hey,"

Riley looked up in the mirror and saw Kendall standing the doorway to the room. She rested her chin in her hand when she spotted him. _I didn't think that he'd come. _She wasn't sure how to react or what to do, for the first time in her life. She sat up straight and turned around in her chair, her face etched in uncertainty. "Hey," she responded. She looked at her watch and then shook her head, confused. "How'd you get down here?"

"I said I'd come…even before we did fight. Great show," Kendall continued to stand in the doorway, his hands in his jeans pockets. "Good song."

"Thanks." Riley nodded. She twisted her hands in her lap for a moment, before standing up. "You can come in," she said, giving him a funny look. "I don't bite." She added with a half smile, reminding them of the conversation they had before their fight.

Kendall smiled and nodded, walking further into the room. "We can talk about anything, right?" He asked, lifting his head and looked at her. Riley nodded. "So how come it's so hard to talk about this? Us?" He gave a smirk, painfully reminding her about what caused the whole thing. "Then again, we have so much ammunition to use against each other, so much baggage, so it's easy to get into a fight and say what we don't mean."

"It's not hard…really," Riley said after a second. "It's just…unusual, not like the other conversations we usually have." She gave a sarcastic laugh as she shrugged. "I'm usually not the one apologizing." She lowered her gaze to the floor, her hair falling over her face.

Before he could stop himself, Kendall reached out and tucked some of her hair behind her ear. Riley looked up and smiled her thanks before speaking. "I…wanted to…apologize for what I said…when we fought."

Kendall stared back at her and waited for her to continue.

"Geez, this is hard." She bit her bottom lip, causing Kendall to smile a little. "I didn't mean any of it at all. You're not a Big Time Loser and you aren't a bad friend." She brushed her hair behind her ear. "I was just…I don't know, scared something bad was going to happen. That I was going to lose control of things and hurt you. The way you were acting from the bet we had…I felt I was losing my best friend." She sighed. "Then everything with my bipolar disorder came up and…I'm sorry."

"That bet." Kendall shook his head. "You know the only reason I decided to make the stupid bet was just so I could spend more time with you." He admitted. If he was expecting her to be surprised, he was mistaken.

"I kind of figured," Riley said slowly. "Only after the whole thing at the mall happened. I was trying to scare you into losing; I wanted you to realize being a bad boy isn't what everyone thinks it is." She suddenly looked very bitter, looking through him rather than at him. "It looks glamorous on the outside, but…it's not real. My siblings and I…we're _not _bad people, we've just had bad things happen to us and we've made mistakes and bad decisions in our lives." She turned her gaze to her feet and started to lightly kick her foot back and forth. "I knew when I asked you, you would _never_ shoplift. After that happened, I wondered why you would continue with the whole thing and I figured it out then." She cracked her knuckles."It's sweet in a weird, creepy, macho kind of way."

"For the record you're not a bad friend either." Kendall looked at his hands and then looked back at her. "I don't think you're heartless, you can have a really bad temper at times, but I don't think you're heartless. I don't think you're a bitch either." A smile tugged at his lips. "I think you're the most amazing person I've ever met and one of the best friends I've ever had. But we both said a lot of things, and I know you're probably never going to forget I ever said you deserved to be abused."

"You're right, mate," Riley agreed, raising and lowering a shoulder. She tilted her head to the side. "But it doesn't mean I don't forgive you for saying it." She twirled her red and silver ring around her finger. "I'll forgive you, but I won't forget it."

"Yeah, but I shouldn't have said it." Kendall replied.

He then turned and sat down on the ground, leaning against the wall. Riley moved and sat down next to him, resting her arms on her upraised knees. She started to pick at his leather bracelet, which she just noticed was still on her wrist.

"Can I ask you something?" Kendall rubbed his nose. Riley nodded. "How come you didn't tell me everything was going on before we ended up fighting?" He raised his arms and then slapped them down again. "I thought we told each other everything."

"I was freaked out I guess," Riley muttered. "I mean, apart from my brothers and sister, I've always been an independent person, and having you get so close to me, so close that you knew what I was thinking before I even knew I was thinking it..." She trailed off, lightly pulling at her bottom lip. Finally she dropped her hands once more, her leg bouncing up and down rapidly, rubbing her arm with her hand. "I've lost so many people in my life and had been hurt so much, I didn't want it to happen again. So I decided to hurt you before _I _got hurt, instead." She twisted her mouth to the side. "Unfortunately I handled it in the worst way possible and blurted out everything I was feeling without thinking about it first. And you know the rest."

"It's not like you could help it," Kendall replied. He leaned his head back. "So how's the treatment going? I haven't asked…because I wanted to give you some space so things could go back to normal."

"As normal as things between us can be you mean?" Riley chuckled lightly.

"Do you always have to answer a question with a question?" Kendall shook his head.

"What do you think?" Riley replied. She chuckled. "Things are good, actually. I got a stronger dosage on my medication and it's helping a lot."

The two smiled at each other.

Then there was silence.

"So what happened with your dad?" Riley cracked her knuckles. "How was meeting up with him again?"

Kendall winced.

Shortly after Riley had her meltdown, he went to meet with his father to talk about what was going on. Things were going well at first, but his father was fidgeting nervously and he wasn't answering Kendall's questions. He didn't seem to notice whenever Kendall was talking to him. He wanted to ask, but he was afraid of what would happen if he did. Turns out, he didn't have to ask what was going on; his father laid everything out on the table for him.

_"Ok," Kevin finally spoke up, only seconds after finishing half of his plate. "I know how you're in a band and that you're doing really well," he explained looking from Kendall to Katie. "I know that both of you are doing such great things out here in LA and I'm so proud of you."_

_"And?" Kendall prompted._

_"And," Kevin raised his hand to his mouth and started to bite on his nails, the same bad habit that Kendall had when he was nervous. "Well, I'm in a bit of a bind. Our firms is being is being downsized and I don't know if I have the funds left to-"_

_"Unbelievable," Kendall interrupted, his eyes widening with shock._

_"If you'll just listen…"_

_"I tried to wait for you…I waited everyday for the past eight years…but you never came, never bothered to come back. I tried to wait for you for as long as I could…until I realized it was time for me to move on. You were never coming back." Kendall gritted his teeth together. "I waited for you to come back to us, to realize that you made a mistake…" Kendall said quietly, trying to hold in the tears that were threatening to come. "But you never bothered to contact us and when you finally did, you just led me on. All you wanted was money." He took another deep breath and finally looked up at his dad. "Just, go and leave dad," Kendall stated as he stood by his chair, holding onto it with the back of his hands. "Just, this time, don't come back." He shook his head. "I don't ever want to see you again."_

"You might as well say 'I told you so'" Kendall replied, sounding bitter. "You were right, all Dad wanted out of me was the money I was making from the band." He chuckled. "I just wish I knew it was all he wanted, so I wouldn't have bothered going."

"But you couldn't have known," Riley reminded him. "I could have been wrong."

"But you weren't." Kendall shook out his hair.

"I know I just didn't want to say it. So who gets the father of the year award?" Riley asked, rolling her eyes. "The one who beat his kids almost to death or the one who walked out on his family and caused them grief when he came back?" She shrugged. "Either way it sounds bad."

"Really." Kendall's eyes narrowed for a moment. "Is that what you really think of me?" Riley gave him a confused look as he quickly changed the subject. "That I'm just your best friend."

Riley snorted.

"You and I, fuck it, the whole _world_ knows we're not _just_ best friends." She started to count off on her fingers. "You figured out that all we wanted was friends, you helped send our Dad away, you wouldn't stop _bugging_ me until I admitted we were friends, you always have a story to tell me when I first see you in the day, you always let me watch you practice hockey after you went on a tangent about needing concentration, you're quick to jump to help me with homework when Logan can't, even though we both know you're not great at it either, you never complained when it came to getting fittings done, you helped me admit to someone other than my family that I have bipolar disorder, and you helped me when my medication stopped working and my PTSD went out of control. Even when we were fighting. No, you're not _just_ my best friend." She ran her hand through her hair, releasing the scent of her strawberry scented shampoo. "I think the song I just sang shows you we're not just best friends."

"And the reason you're called the DarkElements?" Kendall pressed. "I think I might know why, but I want to be sure."

Riley rested her chin on her knees. "Why don't you tell me?"

Kendall smiled. "You said not everyone is afraid of the dark and more are afraid of what's in it. Then you said your band was named the DarkElements for a reason. Is it because you're all afraid of what's going on inside you, due to what you've all gone through?"

"Bingo." Riley gave the peace sign.

"So how'd you get the stage name Rage then?" Kendall asked. "It wasn't from being bipolar was it?"

"No." Riley laughed. She pulled her hair from her face. "Actually, on one of our first shows in our first ever concert; we had a competition where each of us got a guitar we were allowed to break. We were going to see who could break theirs the fastest. Mine was the only one that wouldn't break and I basically went ape-shit on it. So you can think of what a twelve year old girl who's mad at a stupid guitar would look like on stage, trying to beat the crap out of it."

Kendall laughed loudly. "I can imagine." He reached up and hand and laced his fingers in-between Riley's, gently playing with her fingers. He could feel her trying to pull her hand back, but he continued to hold on until she relaxed. "I don't want to lose you, Riles."

"Where am I going?" Riley asked incredulously.

"What we have is the only thing that makes sense to me." Kendall tugged at his shoelaces with his free hand, ignoring her question. "I felt this way for a long time. I just…didn't think you felt the same way."

"How could you not?" Riley flushed lightly. "Basically, when you got back from the tour I knew our relationship was different. I felt it almost immediately. In fact, I knew when you _first_ developed feelings for me before then. I ignored it then, but after the tour I couldn't. It's hard…being best friends and then starting to date, and I wanted to figure things out…but then things changed and things happened."

"You mean with the whole Lucy thing?"

"Yeah."

"When did you figure it out?" Kendall scratched his neck. "When I had feelings for you, I mean. I didn't know it for a bit."

Riley was silent for a long moment. "At the beach party at Griffin's house," she finally said. "I knew then."

"Well…when did you first realize you liked me?"

Riley made a strange sound in the back of her throat, scratching the back of her head. "Over the summer," she said slowly. She shrugged. "I don't know, I just realized how much I missed having you around, as pathetic as that was."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." She smirked. "You know for the fact that you're such a dork that it's a _wonder_ you don't repel girls like the plague." Her smirk widened, running a hand through her hair. Then her face fell into an expression of anxiety. "There is something else you need to know though. When you were going after Lucy…I dated WayneWayne for a bit."

Kendall stayed silent. Riley looked at him curiously, waiting to see what he had to say. But he just looked around the room and then shrugged. Riley laughed lightly.

"You're not mad?" She asked.

"No, I'm mad." Kendall nodded. "It's just now isn't the time to dwell on it," He said honestly.

Riley sighed, scratching her forehead to hide the pout on her face. "You know the only reason I didn't say anything…the same reason I kept helping you with Lucy, even though I was annoyed with it was because I didn't want things to end up like it did with my exes. Hough it really sucked when I saw you kissing Lucy, that's why I left the PalmWoods so fast. I didn't want to be reminded about my past. A lot of them used me…" she trailed off. "A lot were jerks and while I've been saying that for two years, you deserve to know what happened. I never told you guys how many exes Rhu and I've had because we didn't want you to think that we were…"

"Easy?" Kendall guessed. "Sorry," he apologized, noticing her look. "That's the best way I could say it."

"Pretty much," Riley agreed. "When people started to find out we were dating whomever, that's when all the rumors started. And it's worse if you're a girl. Every guy we would be friends with afterwards would be rumored that we were dating. We pretended it didn't bother us and for the most part it doesn't." She smiled. "Like with you guys, we can just laugh at it since we're such great friends."

"And that's probably why our bands get along so well," Kendall said. "Because we're all such good friends and we can help each other through a lot of stuff and laugh it off."

"Right." Riley scratched her neck. "Anyway, it just made things worse, because it made me look desperate for attention, in a way I was, but I only went out with those that I thought were actually good. And most did treat me well at first." She sighed. "I'm digressing. Ok, I have about seven exes."

Kendall's eyes widened.

"Yeah, I know." Riley noticed the look on his face. "I started dating when I was twelve or thirteen or so with my next door neighbor, Nic, who I had known for forever. That didn't last long, because he was really immature. Then I moved onto a guy named Cody. He was a fan first, and we were good friends. We broke up on good terms. Then when I was fourteen I started to go out with Julius's best friend Mike, who was two years older than me. That didn't last long, we usually only made out and we broke up because he didn't see anything wrong with his friend, who was also Rhu's boyfriend at the time, cheating on her. Plus he smoked pot and I didn't like that.

"Then I fell into the wrong crowd and started to date a guy named Braden. Things were pretty physical with him, not sex, but a lot of wandering hands. We got into a _lot_ of trouble, shoplifting, getting into fights, skipping class, stuff like that. All of us, the group I hung out with, were kind of a gang, not an official one, really, but no one wanted to mess with us. Rhu dated the leader, Austen, so the two of us were getting in trouble a lot, and when we were getting in trouble, we were trying to shield our brothers from it. Braden used me for my fame for a while, and then got tired of being in the spotlight. We broke up because he dumped me, saying I had too much baggage. Then when I was fifteen I dated this guy named Ryan and he clearly only wanted to use me for my fame.

"Here's where I feel epically pathetic." Riley started to rub her arm again, her eyes growing hard with anger. "I spent the worst part of about two years on this guy named Ian. He was dating a classmate of ours, but I liked him anyway, even though I knew it wasn't a good idea. He convinced me he was going to dump his girlfriend for me, so, essentially, I was the 'other woman' in this scenario."

"And _that's_ why you were annoyed when you found out Jo and I broke up partly because of you," Kendall said. "That makes sense now."

"Yeah." Riley nodded. "So for about two years I continually went to him in secret, my brothers and sisters knew and constantly told me to stop, but I couldn't. He had too much of an emotional and mental hold on me, even though I grew to hate his guts. Whenever he wasn't with her, he was with me and we made out a lot. I felt terrible and humiliated and finally broke up with him. I was sixteen at this point. Then I dated Nic again and we were really happy, but when we came out here…we knew it wouldn't work so we had to break up again." She explained. "That's everyone, I swear."

She crossed her arms and rested her chin on it. "So that's why I don't talk about my exes or how much trouble I got in. That's why while I _love_ my home; I hate it at the same time. There's just too much for us to go back to, the same with LA. But Aus is my home and it's a way for me to escape, which is why I'm always so happy to go back there.

"Oh there's one more thing." She gave a sheepish smile. "My screen name, RileyBaby…it came from Ian, and he used it as a taunt for me each and every time he saw me or talked to me. Then Nic picked it up as an endearing nickname. I didn't mind it from Nic, since I cared about him a lot. But then I would always remember who it came from and then I'd get pissed." She scratched her neck. "I was thinking of changing it anyway."

Kendall smiled and nodded. The two were quiet for a long time after her confession. Riley felt a lot better; it was the best she had felt in a long time.

Kendall lightly pulled at his bottom lip before suddenly turning towards her, immediately grabbing her attention. "Uh." Kendall's gaze alternately moved from his feet to Riley. "So, I've been meaning to uh, uh, ask you this…for a while." He took a breath and risked a glance at Riley's face. She continued to look back at him, her face blank as she waited for him to continue. "Uh…" he laughed lightly, shaking his head. "It…it took a lot of courage for me to ask this, but…"

Riley lightly tilted her head, urging him to continue. Her face was still blank of any emotion. "Yes?"

Kendall looked at his feet and then up at her once more. "Will you…go on a date with me…Sunday…at 7-ish?"

Riley looked at him for a long moment before her lips started to twitch. "I told you I wouldn't laugh." she said. She gave a shy smile, gently biting her bottom lip as she blushed; she then leaned forward and pressed her forehead against his. "Took you long enough."

"Well excuse me, but you're the one who told me I needed time to myself," Kendall shrugged.

"Cause last I checked, it's kind of hard to breathe when you're whipped on one side and mush on the other," Riley deadpanned. "Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place."

"I was scared," Kendall admitted.

"Of what?" Riley's eyebrows lowered.

"Of you," Kendall said simply.

"Of me?" Riley looked shocked. "You're scared of an eighteen year old, five-foot-three, teenage girl?"

"Well, when you say it like that, it sounds even more pathetic than it did when I was thinking it." Kendall rolled his eyes. He bit his bottom lip. "I'm sorry I waited so long."

"It's all right," Riley moved closer to his side and he let go of her hand long enough to put his arm around her shoulders. She tensed for a moment before relaxing into his side, taking his hand in hers again.

Life was always a matter of waiting for the right moment to act.

Kendall held up his right fist and Riley gave a half smile before they did their 'secret' handshake.

* * *

"Hey!"

Riley looked up as she got out of her car and smiled as Kendall waved and walked over to her, giving her a gentle hug in greeting. She had offered to drive him on their date; instead, he said he wanted to meet her there. She was sure it had to do with the fact he still didn't have his license. But he said he had a surprise for her, so she just went along with it.

"Hey." Riley responded, quickly checking her phone before sliding it into the pocket on her jean skirt. "You look nice, Hockey-Head." She added motioning to the t-shirt, sports jacket, and jeans he was wearing. "Better than the flannel you always wear." She added teasingly.

"Thank you, Ruby, you look great too," Kendall said with a smile, leaning towards her a little.

Riley blinked, looking up at him. "Ruby?" she repeated. He laughed at the confused look on her face.

"Yeah." Kendall nodded. "Remember when I got really annoyed of you calling me Hockey-Head and Eyebrows all the time?" Riley slowly nodded. "I said I was going to come up with an annoying nickname for you…but I couldn't think of one," He admitted after a minute. Riley laughed. "So, instead, I thought I'd give you a nice one." He explained. "And since you're so pretty and you like the color red, I thought the nickname Ruby was fitting."

"Much better than other people have given me," Riley replied as she nervously brushed her hair behind her ear.

"Oh, this is for you." Kendall moved his arm out from behind his back and handed her a small daisy.

Riley's eyes widened and she blushed a little bit. "Thanks." Riley smiled and took the flower from him. She turned towards the Santa Monica pier, the bright lights spilling out over the ocean water that crashed against the sand in the distance. The song _Two Is Better than One _could be heard over the loudspeakers in the park. "Ready to go?"

"Yep." Kendall replied and held out his arm, signaling her to go first. Riley rolled her eyes and started walking, allowing Kendall to fall in step beside her.

"You're such a dork." She said.

"But I'm your best friend anyway," Kendall pointed out.

The two slowly walked across the boardwalk, talking to each other about music, movies, books, hockey, and baseball. Kendall lightly grabbed onto her arm, noticing she didn't flinch for once, and turned a bright booth that had caught his eye and headed over to it. Riley slowly followed behind him, eyebrows raised in interest.

"I'd like five balls to throw, please." He said to the man behind the counter as he put down a five dollar bill. The man took the money and grabbed five baseballs and motioned to a small tower of milk bottles.

"Knock em' down and win a prize." He said, sounding bored.

"You _do_ know these things are rigged, right?" Riley stated as she moved to stand beside him, arms crossed over her chest.

"Just watch," Kendall replied with a warm smile and a wink before rearing back and throwing the ball forwards. Riley watched, slightly impressed, as he knocked down the bottles. She looked over at him and he smiled back. "I improved from throwing like a five-year-old, don't ya think?" He looked over at Riley, who nodded, and watched as he threw the balls four more times and knocked them milk bottles down each time.

"Pick your prize." The guy sounded like he hated Kendall at that moment as when people didn't get the milk jugs knocked down they kept going, spending more money.

"Um," Kendall scanned the collection and then looked at a large stuffy puppy, similar to the one he had used in the first photo shoot Griffin had creative license over. Back when they were sixteen and she basically hated his guts. "I'll take the dog, please." The man handed it over and he smiled as he handed it to Riley.

"Thank you," she looked overwhelmed with how big the stuffed animal was. The two started walking again. "When Sydney finds out you were able to knock down the bottles he's going to be mad." She laughed a little. "It took him forever, and 60 dollars worth of Noah's debit card, to finally win something."

"Well, I won't tell him if you won't." Kendall agreed. "What do you want to do now?" he asked and pointed to the Ferris wheel. "How about that?"

"No," Riley shook her head. "I don't like Ferris Wheels."

"Afraid of heights?" Kendall guessed.

"Please." Riley snorted. "It just wouldn't surprise me if you bribed the worker to make it stops at the top to make it all 'romantic' or whatever." She rolled her eyes and tried to do air quotes, but it was hard as she was holding onto a giant stuffy puppy.

"I wasn't thinking that at all," Kendall replied and then looked thoughtful. "But now I am."

"Keep dreaming." Riley replied simply. She looked around for a bit and then a challenging look slid onto her face as she turned to Kendall, pointing with a free hand. "How about the batting cages?" She asked, walking over to it. "If you could throw that well, you should be able to swing." The two went over to the cages and paid for their turn to go.

Kendall went first and managed to get a couple of hits, but missed almost every other ball for the twenty tries he paid for. He pulled off the helmet and slapped it onto Riley's head, purposefully moving it over her eyes. "Why don't you show me how it's done?"

"All right, but don't come crying to me when I show you up." Riley looked over the selection of bats before picking up one was in the center.

She moved into the cage and stood above the plate, knees slightly bent her eyes on the ball dispensing machine. As the first ball shot out, Riley swung and the ball barreled off her bat like a rocket. The ball hit the wall with a hard thud. Riley gave her shoulders a quick roll back and turned to hit the next ball with just as much force. A few line drives later, she walked out of the cage, took off the helmet and shook out her hair. Kendall just stood there, jaw open.

Riley reached over and tapped his jaw closed. "I hear flies don't taste particularly good, Hockey-Head." She picked up her stuffy puppy and turned from the batting cages when a sweet smell hit the air. She sniffed lightly before turning towards a booth that was selling cotton candy. Kendall noticed her stop and laughed when he saw what she was looking at.

"You can go sit on the bench over there," he nodded in the direction as he took out his wallet. "And I'll get some cotton candy."

"The purple one, please." Riley replied before walking over to the bench and sitting down, gently placing her flower and stuffed dog on the ground by her feet. Kendall came back a few seconds later carrying two sticks of cotton candy. "Thanks." She took the stick from his hand and plucked off a bit of the fluffy junk food before sticking it in her mouth, smiling at the taste.

"Yum." Kendall agreed as he took a large bite.

Riley looked over at him and twisted her mouth to the side, thoughtful. She didn't feel nervous at all up until that moment. In fact, up until then, she felt like she always did whenever they hung out when it was just the two of them. Calm and completely comfortable, now things were a bit different. They weren't just best friends; they were best friends on a date.

"So, I have a question for you," Kendall said after a minute of silence. Riley looked at him wordlessly and he continued. "How come you never played us anything on the guitar?"

Riley grimaced, thinking about the show they had done on Jay Leno the five days before. It was probably one of her most embarrassing moments she could think of. Something she usually wouldn't do. But it ended up getting her and Kendall to be friends again and there was a lot of positive feedback from it. Of course her ScuttleButter was completely filled with messages when she had gotten back online, from the people who had been there. Now she was waiting for it to air so she could get even more.

"How come _you've_ never played us anything on the guitar?" Riley shot back.

"Answering a question with a question?" Kendall raised an eyebrow.

"What do you think?" Riley smirked back.

"Logan told me you play the guitar all the time when you're in a block." Kendall looked towards the sky as he finished his cotton candy and wiped his hands off on his jeans. "Anyway, you asked if why I didn't play anything for you guys, so I'll do you one better." He replied and smiled as he took a deep breath and started to sing. Riley's mouth twitched when she recognized it as one of her favorite songs, _You and I Both_ by Jason Mraz. She listened as he continued to sing, hitting every note perfectly and putting a lot of emotion into the song. Finally he finished the song, trying to catch his breath.

He blushed and waved a hand to the people who stopped to listen to him sing.

Riley shook her head slowly. "You're a trip Kendall Knight." She eyed him warily. "Did Logie tell you that's one of my favorite songs?"

"No," Kendall replied and then laughed a little bit when Riley didn't look convinced. "I'm telling you the truth, Logan didn't tell me." He held his hands up defensively.

"Then how'd you know?" she questioned.

"I swiped your iPhone once and saw it was your most played song." Kendall replied with a half smile. Riley shook her head again. Kendall's smile slowly faded as he slowly moved towards her. Riley's smirk faded and her eyes closed a little bit as she also moved towards him. "Stop me if you don't want me to do this," Kendall whispered, his lips above hers.

"I would have already if I didn't want to," Riley whispered back a second before his lips landed on hers.

Kendall couldn't help but notice how this kiss was different than any of the other ones he'd had. With Jo, their kisses were always sweet and somewhat brief. They were innocent and reflected the sort of nice personally Jo had. But with Riley, the kiss was more passionate, it wasn't as stiff, and it matched the personality Riley had. Kendall's hands were lightly on her neck, his thumbs on her cheeks, and Riley's hands were in Kendall's hair and on his neck. The one in his hair gently formed a fist, pulling at the strands, giving him chills.

He smiled when he gently pulled back, and then reached around her, trying to get to the cotton candy she had left over. Riley reacted quickly and leaned back out of the way, holding her cotton candy out of his reach.

"Do you want to lose that hand?" She asked.

"No." Kendall chuckled.

"Then back off my cotton candy."

The two laughed.

"So-"Kendall started.

"So-"Riley said at the same time. Kendall fell quiet, so she could continue. "Um, what are we now?" She leaned back against the bench twisting to the side so she could face him.

Kendall spoke slowly. "I mean, we've established we're best friends…but we're more than that." He gave a hopeful smile.

"It's weird, with Nic, things were awkward for a while after we started to go out. But with you…I feel as comfortable as I do when we're best friends. Just…" Riley hesitated for a moment. "I don't usually like the idea of becoming someone's girlfriend right after one date. I like to be asked and I like to get to know the other person for a while." She noticed the look on Kendall's face. "Don't give me that look!" She flicked him on the nose. "I know we've known each other for two years, but still. You're my best friends, all of you guys are, and I don't want them to be put out."

_"Is it possible that we can add in there, if there's something going on with a friend, or a family member, or something really important with our bands gets in the way, we can postpone the bet for that reason?" Kendall asked, resting his chin in his hands. "I mean, say, Mom needs my help with something or something is wrong with Katie." He suggested. "Or something is up with our friends. I'd like to be able to help them with that."_

_"Yeah, yeah, that's fine." Riley said quickly. Kendall noticed the change in her demeanor, but didn't call her out on it._

Kendall smiled to himself before responding. "No, I totally agree. Our family and friends come first." He paused. "And our jobs of course."

"PDA is _not_ my thing," Riley said sharply.

"Trust me," Kendall said with a laugh. "I get enough of that with Logan and Camille."

"Exactly," Riley agreed. "Um." She thought for a moment. "I don't want our friendship to change. I mean that. I don't want to be the couple that acts all weird around each other and not natural. I want our friendship to stay exactly the same."

"Except we go on dates and kiss?" Kendall asked. He said it that way, purposefully to make her uncomfortable. He laughed when Riley scowled at him, though she also had a look of amusement in her eyes. "I'm just teasing, Ruby. I don't want our friendship to change either. You're my best friend for a reason and I don't want that to be jeopardized."

"We take things slow and…" Riley's face then got serious. "Just…don't hurt me."

"Trust me." Kendall adopted a serious look as well. "That'll never happen. I'll never let anything hurt you. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

"I haven't yet." Kendall's phone buzzed and he looked at the time. He grimaced, knowing he wasn't going to hear the end of it after he said what he had to say. "Ah, well, it's getting late, we should be heading back."

"Right, we have to get you back for your wittle curfew," Riley said in a baby-ish voice, sticking out her lower lip as the two stood up and started to walk away from the bench. Kendall reached out and shoved her shoulder. "Hey!"

"My Mom just wants to be sure we get enough sleep," Kendall defended himself. "We can't all be like you and not have a curfew." He twisted his right foot back and kicked her in the butt. He laughed when Riley twisted her left foot and tried to kick him as well, only managing to hit him on the back of the knee. "Nice try."

"Shut up, Hockey-Head." Riley rolled her eyes. She stopped walking and turned to Kendall. "Hey," she said slowly, her eyes flashing with challenge. "We never really figured out who won the bet."

"Isn't it obvious?" Kendall asked. He gave a smug smile. "_I_ won."

"Oh please!" Riley crossed her arms over her chest, the best she could, holding onto a stuffy puppy. "You and I both know _I _won! You're not a bad boy." She tilted her head to the side. "Not even a little bit."

"But I did everything you told me," Kendall said. "I took all of your lessons to heart and applied it to everything. I won by a landslide."

"If it's a landslide of crap, I don't doubt it," Riley shot back. "I won."

"Did not," Kendall returned.

"Did too." Riley took a step towards him.

"Did not." Kendall placed a hand on her neck and kissed her again. "You know, I _really_ like to fight with you," he said when he pulled back. Riley smirked back at him. He held up a finger. "But I think I have an idea how to figure out who really won."

"Oh yeah." Riley gave him a challenging look. "What's that?"

"You'll see." Kendall replied with a mischievous smirk.

* * *

**A/N: **If you want to hear the song, listen to 'whatever it takes' by Lifehouse, but switch the 'she' parts to 'he'. You guys probably wanted to see Kendall meeting up with his dad again…but that wasn't the point of the story, I just needed a small side-plot for Kendall, but it wasn't that important so that's why it wasn't shown.

I also wanted to show (like I stated in an earlier chapter) that while Kendall and Riley can have serious conversations, they can also have fun with each other and have a good balance of silly and serious in their friendship/relationship, so I hope I showed that here.

I hope you guys liked this chapter, only one left.

Cheers,

-Riles


	11. You're Not Alone

**.:Epilogue:.**

_So what would be the recipe for a happy ending when you try to go from best friends to dating? T__ake a bet, a misunderstanding, a secret, a 'good boy', a 'bad girl', and a rumor; mix it all together and what do you get? A new beginning._

* * *

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Hey, do you have time to meet up?

**RiledUp11:** I don't know, I have so much to do before your game. :(

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Oh come on, we agreed that whoever lost had to be the other person's slave for a week.

**RiledUp11:** And you waited _six months_ for me to pay that back?

**KnightInShiningArmor:** There's a method to my madness.

**RiledUp11:** Really? I just thought that you were nuts. You and the boys getting in trouble all the time can be considered a sign of being completely out of it, yeah.

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Well you would know about that. You're all psychotic. (In a good way).

**RiledUp11:** Only Ronan can call us that. :p

**RiledUp11:** Btw, bite me!

**KnightInShiningArmor:** I'd love to. On the neck or the lips? :)

**RiledUp11:** *rolls eyes* Shut up, boofhead.

**KnightInShiningArmor:** So do you have free time?

**RiledUp11:** For you lot I always make time you stickybeak. When and where? I have to finish altering your guys' clothes later.

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Hmm. How about at our place?

**RiledUp11:** You're calling it our 'place' now? You mean, like the PalmWoods pool and the PalmWoods elevator were yours and Jo's and yours and Lucy's 'places'.

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Ok, forget I said that.

**RiledUp11:** Mhm.

**KnightInShiningArmor:** Just meet me at the hockey rink? That way we don't have to worry about getting caught trespassing.

**RiledUp11:** No problem. Peace.

Riley logged off of her computer, pulled on her shoes, grabbed her wallet, and hurried down to the kitchen. "Hey, I'm going to the hockey rink," she said as she went into the kitchen, shrugging into a jean jacket. She paused and watched Ronan standing at the sink, a screwdriver and a hammer tucked into the belt loops of his jeans. Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney were watching him, all trying not to smile. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to fix the sink," Ronan replied.

"Trying being the keyword," Riley pointed out. "You aren't good at fixing things." She placed her hands on her hips and shook her head. "You don't even know the difference between a hammer and a screwdriver."

"Why do you think I'm the one that's always fixing the cars?" Rhuben laughed. She leaned forward from where she was sitting on the counter and rested her arms on Noah's shoulders. "If he touched mine I'd be walking for months."

"Ha ha." Ronan turned from the sink and pushed his reading glasses up his nose. "Just because I'm not that good at construction doesn't mean that I can't fix a sink." He put the instruction booklet, _Plumbing for Dummies_ on the table and looked at the tools that were sticking out his belt. "Ok, now which one is the wrench?"

"Should we start storing extra water for showers or wait until he actually floods the kitchen?" Noah asked.

"We should wait until he floods it." Patrick grinned. "That way we can see if there's enough water for a second pool!" The Jacksons all laughed as Ronan rolled his green eyes, taking off his glasses and dropping them onto the table. "Oh come on, old man, we're kidding."

Ronan merely pointed at Patrick with a sharp look. He then turned back to Riley. "You said you're going to the rink? The game isn't until much later."

"I know," Riley placed her hands into the pockets of her black jean jacket. "But Hockey-Head said that he wanted to meet me and since this is the last day of the week that I'm his slave, I'm willingly going." Her upper lip curled. "I can't _believe _that Logan proved me wrong about the bet." She threw her hands into the air. "I mean, Kendall quit, he didn't tell me, but he quit. So I should have won by defaut!"

"Hey, that just means that we have the chance to get him back." Rhuben smiled evilly. "And we know what Logie-Bear hates." Riley laughed and held out her hand, giving Rhuben a low-five. "Tell K-Dawg I say 'hi'. Oh and we'll bring the jerseys and stuff over to the rink later."

"Sweet," Riley said with a nod. She reached out and took the banana that was in Sydney's hand, taking a large bite. Sydney made a whining sound and pulled the banana away from her. "Oh Ronan, by the way." She slowly started to smile. "The plumber's crack isn't a good look for you."

She laughed loudly and danced out of Ronan's reach as he moved to grab her and hurried out the front door.

* * *

"Finally!" Kendall stood up from the bleachers as Riley walked into the hockey arena. He laughed when he noticed that she had on one of his gray beanies and some gloves, the tip of her nose was already red. "I've been waiting for _forever_!"

"It's only been forty minutes, Hockey-Head, chill." Riley rolled her eyes. She blinked when a second later she was in his arms and he was grinning down at her.

He kissed her with a passionate kiss. He caressed her cheek with his thumb as she melted into his arms, slipping hers around his neck. They were totally oblivious to everything except each other, she wasn't cold anymore. Not that she even really got cold at the hockey rink, she had been going to see him there so much that she got used to it. She normally wore a beanie and gloves just to annoy him. Riley lost control of all coherent thoughts and concentrated only on Kendall's lips on hers and his hands running through her hair, pulling her closer. She felt a million wonderful sensations zinging through her senses, the kiss got deeper, hungrier as he pulled her tighter to him. When he moved to kiss her neck, she pushed him back with a challenging smile on her lips.

"No one's here," he reminded her, breathless. "I don't have to worry about the PDA rule."

Riley patted his cheek, her own cheeks pinched with extra color. "I know, but I know it pisses you off." She then poked him in the chest when he smirked at her before lightly tugging on his shirt. "Hey, you're not trying to be a bad boy anymore, the smirk is a trademark that is copyright by the DarkElements/Jacksons." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Speaking of…" Kendall grabbed onto her hand and walked her over to the bleachers. He motioned for her to sit down. "As of today, you're not my slave for the week anymore. You don't have to wash my clothes, you don't have to do my homework, you don't have to sit here and video tape me playing hockey for hours, and you don't have to sit through our crazy plans and not being able to say a word."

"You're such a dill." Riley looked annoyed. "I can't believe you made me do all that. And I thought that having me put on a cheerleading uniform was bad enough."

"That was cute." Kendall smiled.

"I hate you for doing that," Riley remarked.

"No, you don't," Kendall said.

"I know." Riley shook her head and then rubbed her forehead with one hand before clenching her hands into fists. "But I don't. _Do. _Cute." Riley ground out through gritted teeth.

"I know." Kendall sat down next to her. "Anyway, I wanted to thank you for putting up with me through all of that. And through everything else that we've been through since we came out here to LA. Like I said before… my life really did begin when I met you, Riley. And throughout everything you never gave up on me so I'm not going to give up on you and I never will give up on you. And because you're going back to Australia tomorrow morning, I wanted to remind you that I won't give up." He sat down next to her. "And I want you to always know that." He reached out and untied the leather bracelet that Riley still had on her wrist before retying it onto his. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver necklace with a red gemstone on the front. "I hope you like it." He stated sheepishly when he saw the stunned expression on her face.

"It's beautiful," Riley replied as she took it and looked it over. She looked up at Kendall, slightly confused. He instructed her to turn it over. She did so and noticed the words written on the back. "To my best friend, my partner in crime," Riley read out loud. Her eyebrows flew up. "For some reason, I'm actually surprised that you came up with something this corny." She looked annoyed. "I must be slipping."

"I'm a romantic, what can I say. Though I guess I would say I'm playing with fire." Kendall smiled modestly. "So." He licked his lips. "Will you be my girlfriend? Officially?" He took a deep breath and let it out before looking her right in the eyes. "I love you."

Riley looked at him blankly and then dropped her hands into her lap. "Aw, crap, now _I_ have to say it!" She said. A second afterwards, she slapped her hands over her mouth.

"Excuse me?" Kendall asked.

"Sorry, I thought I was thinking it," she apologized. "I didn't know I said it out loud." She looked at the necklace that was in her hands and then tugged on the one that was already around her neck, thinking. "It's not…you don't…" she sighed. "Really the only decision left is the one that I need to make with myself, to stop running once and for all. I mean, I know who I'm supposed to be with." She lifted her gaze to his. "I've always known." She shrugged and then her eyebrows lowered. "But then the fear takes over, the free-floating, anxiety-ridden fear in the pit of my stomach that makes me run. I am completely comfortable running. I really don't know any other way."

"Well, I'm always going to catch up, so you don't have to worry about it," Kendall smiled.

Riley looked down at the necklace again before giving him a skeptical look. "Do you really love me, though?" She asked quietly. "'Cause I'm eighteen years old, and I go through every day of my life thinking that nobody will ever love me as much as my family does and I'm probably stupid enough to wait forever."

"Ri." Kendall reached out and took the necklace. He unclasped it and then leaned forward, putting it around her neck. "You don't have to wait anymore." He leaned forward and gave her a gentle kiss. "But I'm willing to wait until you're ready to say the words back to me, even though I know you feel the same way."

Riley smiled and gave him a hug, their special hug. "Hockey-Head?"

"Hmm?" Kendall's chin rested on her head.

"Thank you," Riley said and tightened her hold on him.

Kendall tilted her chin up and kissed her the same way he had in their first kiss. He stared at her dark blue eyes with his forehead resting on hers. "You're welcome, Ruby." He cupped her cheeks in his hands. "I love you." Kendall kissed her again. "They do say that love is friendship on fire." Riley gave him an odd look and his smile widened. He wasn't sure that she understood what she was getting at. It took a while for him to get it himself. He was Gustavo's 'fire', the one that he had been looking for when he went around the US. And here Riley was, his own 'fire', as it was the element that she 'represented' for her band. He would have laughed at the irony if it didn't give him chills.

"Hey," Riley poked him in his dimple. She lifted her red gemstone necklace out from under her shirt. "Where'd you get this?" She asked him.

Kendall looked like he didn't want to answer, but then sat up straight, resting his head on his upraised fist. "I asked Ronan," he finally said.

"You talked to Ronan?" Riley's eyebrows rose as Kendall nodded. "What'd he say?"

"He said that, from experience, he knew that women liked a fairytale." Kendall replied. He made a scoffing sound. "Although he also that I shouldn't be surprised if you were immune to that sort of thing. That you've always been a skeptic."

"I'm a skeptic of a lot of things." Riley replied flippantly. "But I guess you're my Knight in shining…" she looked him up and down, shaking her head at the irony. "Hockey gear. Hockey-Head."

His shoulders rose in a shrug and he gave her a smirk. "If the last name fits…" Smiling to himself, he pulled out his phone and went to his ScuttleButter page looking at his latest post: ** BigTimeKendall I'm so glad to be able to announce that I am indeed going out with the beautiful, Riley Jackson-McGuire Skater_Gurl11.** There were all ready over 2,000 rebuttles as well as hundreds of responses to the post that he had put up earlier that afternoon. He was waiting until she had agreed to be his girlfriend before he announced it. (Ok, so he did get a bit of a jump on it, but he knew that she would say 'yes). Most of them were positive, but of course, every now and then there were the negative ones.

But he didn't care anymore.

"Anyway, I hope that you didn't think that that was I wanted to bring you out here for." Kendall heard Riley sigh loudly as he reached into his gym bag and pull out two pairs of skates. "I'm going to teach you how to skate even if it kills me." Riley opened her mouth to retort, but he quickly cut her off. "And I mean 'skating' where you butt actually leaves the ice." He handed her the smaller set of skates and quickly put his own on before leading the way over to the entrance of the ice.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Riley hovered at the entrance, one hand on the railing. Kendall turned so that he was facing her.

"Maybe, maybe not, but it's the last day of the bet and you have to do what I tell you." Kendall reached out a hand towards her. "Do you trust me?"

Riley looked offended. "Of course," she replied.

"Good." Kendall skated forward and took both of her hands in his. He gently tugged on them as he started to skate backwards. Riley inched after him, her gaze on her feet. Every time her felt her start to fall, he would tighten his grip on her hands, keeping her steady. The two slowly worked their way around the ice. As they went by the entrance and started to go around again, Riley mumbled something under her breath. Kendall moved towards her, his skates gliding easily. "What?" He asked.

Riley slowly smiled, blushing. "I love you, too." The words felt weird for her to say. She hadn't said it to anyone other than her family before. Not even when she dated her past boyfriend and she was sure that she felt something strong for him. But not what she felt for Kendall. She let out a quiet giggle, which was very unlike herself, at Kendall's stunned expression. "I love you, too."

Kendall smiled. "So the rumor's true, then," he teased, backing up as Riley tried to hit him on the arm. The force of her swing caused him to lose his grip and she went tumbling to the ice. Kendall laughed and helped her back up, the two started to skate again.

"So." Riley lifted Kendall's hand and gently pressed a kiss to his knuckles. "How does it feel being on the top of the world?" Her eyes moved over Kendall's, flashing. "Or at least LA?"

He thought about it for a moment. "I feel free." He smiled at his best friend.

"Me too," Riley agreed.

And in that moment he realized that didn't matter that she was everything he never usually went for.

She was still all he could think about.

**THE END**

* * *

**A/N: **Whew, the story is over! I hope that you guys enjoyed it, I really wanted to expand on Riley being bipolar since I've only mention it a few times, plus I was expanding on something that had been part of our old timeline; him helping her through PTSD. And I wanted to do a 'bet' story for a while and thought that out of anyone, it would be Kendall and Riley that it fell upon since they're so competitive.

But the main reason I wrote this story is because I wanted to have a story that showed how Kendall's and Riley's relationship slowly moved from being best friends to being more, whether or not they noticed it. This is why they started to do more intimate things like hold hands and sit closer to each other as the story went on (especially in chapters 7 and 8 compared to the beginning). That and because not many people write stories about how a friendship goes into a relationship and how things don't just jump from friends to a relationship, it's not that easy.

From what I've seen in real life and what I've experienced myself things like that usually happen before either of the two people involved have the guts to actually ask the other person out or finally admit their feelings, even if the other person already knew.

That being said, this story was set _after _Kendall went after Lucy and _after_ Riley told him that he needed some time to himself since he had nothing but girl drama for a long time (basically after BTDecision and my quick one-shot Headstrong). I hope that makes sense.

I'll have a new story (the re-write of Wait For Me) up soon, in about a week or so. I also have a standalone sequel to this called, _The Other Side of Midnight,_ about Della coming up. I'm thinking of writing it at the same time as Wait For Me because it'll be 11 chapters as well and its shorter than _Wait For Me_ and _Big Sister _so it won't be as time consuming.

Thanks for all of the reviews, favorites, alerts, and the constant support from you guys. It really means a lot!

Cheers,

-Riles


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